Sunlight
by Joey Taylor
Summary: CCSYGO Crossover. Two card related problems, one small town. Can the Cardcaptor and the wielder of the Millennium Puzzle work together to protect Tomoeda from both Clow Cards and Shadow Magic? What difference will working together make to their stories?
1. A WINDY Beginning

Yugi hated PE, he was small, short, and no good at all at sports.

Luckily the last one didn't matter too much, since there were no huge kids in his class, and while he was the smallest, he certainly wasn't the slowest guy in his class, in fact he was normally one of the first to finish track events, years of bullying had seen to that.

Tea, his best friend, was hanging around the outskirts of the girl's group, who were waiting for their turn to race. Tea wasn't an outcast from the group, but while the other ten year old girls in their class, dreamed of dolls and toys, Tea had a dream that kept her dreaming most of the time.

Of course Yugi still hadn't managed to get it out of her, and since she was his closest, and if he was completely honest, only real friend, in this new school, he wasn't going to push her.

What he really wanted to do was go work on that Puzzle of his that his Grandfather had given him four years ago. He wasn't lazy for not having completed it yet, he just hadn't yet managed to work out exactly how all the pieces went together. His Grandpa had said that it was thousands of years old and no one had completed it in all that time, so Yugi was determined to be the first.

He knelt down, pushing himself into a ready position at the starting blocks, and waited for the starting gun.

"Ready, set…" The gun went and Yugi was off, in the hundred meter sprint, with Tea cheering him on and he passed the finish line .21 of a second behind the one in first.

Yugi grinned at his friend as she lined up, hoping that she would do better then last time. Tea was great at Gymnastics and swimming, but track wasn't exactly her best field.

"Ready, set…" The gun fired, and the first set of girls was off, Tea somewhere near the back as they passed the finish line, two of the girls talking to each other the moment they'd gotten their times and moving to the side, out of the way.

Yugi had moved to Tomoeda Town a few weeks ago, when Yugi's mother had decided that it wasn't good for her son to be living with his Grandfather and taken him with her when she'd moved into her own house here in Tomoeda, for work commitments.

It had surprised Yugi, when, the moment he'd started at Tomoeda Elementary School, he'd found himself sat next to Tea Gardener, who'd been as determined to make friends with him as some of the children in his old school had been to bully him.

Of course there were bullies here too, but Tea had soon started scaring them off, and after a while they'd only come after him while Tea wasn't around. He felt bad using Tea like this, but he'd apologised to her already and she didn't seem to mind.

"Nice time Yugi." Tea sighed.

"Yours was better then last week's." Yugi said, settling on a step to watch the rest of the class race.

"Only because I was in last place last week." Tea complained, settling down next to him. "At least my parents can't complain about my grades in other classes."

"Mum doesn't mind too much, as long as I keep them around average." Yugi shrugged, watching Rika pass the second place runner just in time to take first for herself.

"You're lucky." Tea snorted, then she paused, "Did I tell you that I have extra study tonight, so I can't walk home with you?"

"Yeap, Mum's picking me up." Yugi nodded, trying to lie convincingly. Actually he was walking home, Ms Muto wouldn't have finished work by the time Yugi would get out of school, and it wasn't like he lived that far away, a couple of blocks at most.

"Just don't forget that we have to hand in that English homework tomorrow."

"I won't." Yugi laughed.

"Yeah right." Tea laughed, "Should I phone you to make sure?"

"No, you shouldn't…"

"We're friends Yugi," Tea giggled, "It's fine, honest."

"Then yes, please."

Tea laughed as the teacher sent them in to get changed.

* * *

"Hi." Yugi paused at the gates, as a pair of girls waved to him.

"Hello."

"You're Muto Yugi, right?" The brunette asked.

Yugi nodded nervously.

"I'm Kinomoto Sakura." The girl grinned, bowing for a moment, "It's nice to finally meet you properly, Muto-San."

"Just Yugi please. It's nice to meet you too, Kinomoto-San." Yugi bowed back, smiling.

"Just call me Sakura." She giggled, poking her friend.

"I'm Tomoyo." The blue haired girl introduced herself, bowing to Yugi, "Sakura's best friend. How are you finding Tomoeda?"

"It's really different." Yugi said as they headed down the road, "A lot smaller, but nicer too, everyone's a lot friendlier."

"Tomoeda's only a town, Domino's a city isn't it?" Sakura asked and continued when Yugi nodded, "I bet there was a lot more people in your old school too." Again Yugi nodded and Sakura quite happily babbled on, making Yugi wonder what on earth had possessed the girl.

Tomoyo hid a smile behind a hand as she walked slightly behind the pair. She knew Sakura had wanted to make friends with the new guy, like she had all of her class mates, and this was a good way of getting to know Yugi without scaring him off.

The two happily babbled on about anything and everything, Tomoyo listening in politely until they reached Yugi's house, Sakura trying to convince Yugi to try out for the track team next year, while Yugi tried to get her to play one of his board games, and split ways, Sakura and Tomoyo heading for the little café they normally waited at for Tomoyo's bodyguards and Yugi heading inside to do his homework.

His mum wasn't home yet, and Yugi went straight up to his room to get out of his uniform and start working on the Puzzle again, his mind not on the Puzzle, he'd done a lot of it so many times now that the pieces went in without Yugi even thinking, but on Tea and Sakura and Tomoyo.

He couldn't help wondering, after being bullied for so long, why, suddenly, he had three people being friendly. Was it like his Mum had said? That he'd get a fresh start here, where no body knew him? Or was it just that people here were nicer?

He certainly hadn't been sorry to leave Domino, other then that it meant he had to move out of the Game Shop and away from Grandpa, but Domino was only an hour or two away by train so it wasn't like Yugi couldn't visit and he'd trade a two hour journey for being able to walk home relatively fearless.

His train of thought was broken when he found himself reaching for the last piece of the Puzzle. He stared at it, watching the eye on it and thinking. His Grandpa had said that 'he who completes the Millennium Puzzle gets one wish'. Now he was at that point, he found himself confused. Not knowing what to wish for…

"I wish…"

"Yugi!" Yugi jumped as his mum called, having just arrived home, "I bought take away, come and get it!"

"Coming!" Yugi called down, "I wish that I had friends who would be at my side, no matter what." Yugi said quickly, putting the last piece in.

The next few moments were a blank, Yugi was aware something had happened, when he came to himself, but he wasn't sure what, then his mum was calling and he put the Puzzle down on his desk and raced downstairs, hugging his mother and setting the table.

* * *

There was no one home at Sakura's house either and she was scared.

There were noises coming from the basement, weird growling noises that echoed around the house.

She wasn't supposed to enter her father's study, but she grabbed her metal baton, with it's rubber ends, and opened the door slowly, determined to report it if it was a burglar.

There was no one there, at least no one she could see, so she edged down the steps and looked around a bit more carefully.

Still no one. But there WAS a weird glow coming from one of the bookcases.

Walking down the bookcases until she came to the source of the light, she reached out and touched the glowing book, carefully taking it off of the shelf as the glow faded.

"It's that book…" She murmured, her baton slipping out of her hand and onto the floor, she'd seen it before, in her dreams. It's lion face illustration staring at her, surrounded by white wings, a huge sun just below it. It was like she should know the lion…

Its catch came undone by itself.

She nearly dropped it in her surprise, holding it at arm's length, half afraid something would jump out at her from it. When nothing did, she opened the cover.

Inside was a stack of cards, with a circle enclosing a many pointed star with the sun in the center and a crescent moon in a little circle inside the main circle.

It's name was written in English, and as Sakura turned to go back upstairs with it, she tried to read it, "Win…lesse…win…WINDY?"

It glowed a bright blue, a tornado surrounding her as she let out a scream of terror, her eyes closed so she missed the glowing circle on the floor that was identical to the one on the back of the cards, the rest of the deck blown away by the wind, not stopping at the ceiling, but carrying on to who knows where.

When the wind stopped Sakura dropped the book and sank to her knees.

"What is this?" She asked, looking at the card.

A moment later she was staring at a tiny, winged, teddy bear who was rising from the glowing book.

"Hey-hey-hoo!" It said, hovering in midair and smiling, "Well, I'm surprised that you were able to wake me up!"

"An Osaka accent…?"

"Well, this book was in Osaka for so long, I've caught the accent…" The teddy bear yelped and complained as Sakura tried to figure out how he worked, including where the batteries went, finally pulling himself free.

"I'm no toy!" It shouted at her, "I'm Kerberos, the Beat of the Seal who guards this book!"

"Seal…? Kerberos…?" Sakura asked as the bear walked forward to look at her.

"Yeah. Looking out for the cards in this book so they don't do anything bad is my…" There was a pause while the fact that the cards were gone sank into the bear's head, and then, "The cards are gone! Why? Why? Where did they go?!"

* * *

Kero was hovering over the Book of Clow when Sakura got back up to her room after tea, carrying a desert for the guardian of the cards. "Anything?"

"No good." He answered, sounding depressed and landing, "I can't tell where the cards are at all."

"Here." Sakura put the cake in front of him, with a tea spoon and leant on her desk chair.

"It looks delicious." Kero's face lit up as he gazed at it. Then it sank again, "There were Clow Cards in this book."

"Clow Cards?"

"Clow Cards… When the seal on them is broken, a catastrophe will be fall this world…Those cards were special cards made by an amazing sorcerer named Clow Reed. Each card is alive and possesses incredible powers, but they all like acting on their own and normal forces are no match for them. So, Clow himself created this book and placed me, the Beast of the Seal on the book's front cover." Kero sighed, "In any case, we have to get those cards back and I can't sense where they are because of the strong magic in the area, so you're coming with me."

"Why me?" Sakura asked, "Wouldn't one of those powerful mages in the area be better?"

"Because you're the one that scattered the cards with the WINDY spell, and I don't know if I could trust anyone with the sort of magic I sense."

"B…but wasn't it your job to keep those cards properly sealed away?"

"Well…" Now Kero was embarrassed, "I accidently fell asleep."

"For how long?"

"About thirty years."

"And you call yourself the Beast of the Seal?"

"Stuff happens! All right!"

"So those noises were just snore…" Sakura growled.

"In any case, the fact that you could open this book, means you have some magical power at least and puts you in first place, above anyone else with magic in the area. What's your name?"

"Sakura."

"Alright Sakura, stand right over there."

Sakura got up, and stood by her bed, which seemed to vanish as the magic circle from before formed on the floor.

"Key of the Seal." Kero intoned. A small ball of light rose from the keyhole of the book and hovered in front of Sakura, "There is someone wishing for a contract with you. A girl. Her name is Sakura. Oh key. Grant her the power! RELEASE!"

The light ball expanded, as did the key, forming a baton like staff which Sakura caught, when tod to grab it by Kero.

"All right! It's the birth of a Cardcaptor!" Kero cheered.

As the circle faded and Sakura' room returned to normal, she examined the staff and turned to Kero, expecting him to say something.

Instead, he was stuffing his face full of pudding.

* * *

It was really late out when Yugi finally finished his homework, having completely forgotten about it until Tea had called him a few hours ago, and looked out the window.

It was a clear night, not a star in the sky. All was quiet and still.

At least it was before a huge white bird passed his window, practically screaming its defiance.

It was at this point Yugi decided to see what was going on, poking his head out the window in time to see Sakura run past with a winged teddy bear flying by her side.

Now Yugi had two choices.

He could either ignore it completely and pretend that it wasn't happening or he could go and see if she needed any help.

Yugi made up his mind, grabbing his backpack and shoving his Millennium Puzzle in it without thinking about what he was doing, and quietly dove downstairs, avoiding the living room, with it's squeaky floor board and out the back door, heading in the direction that Sakura had been going.

He'd reached the empty viaduct before he'd caught up with the girl and the bear, who were facing off against a huge white bird that seemed determined to either escape capture or beat Sakura and Yugi wasn't sure whether to help or whether he'd get in her way.

The choice was taken from him as the huge bird dived at him.

"Y…Yugi!" Sakura yelped as he rolled, straightening, his ruby eyes taking in everything, "You ok?"

Yugi nodded tensely, turning to face the bird, who blasted the three of them with a hurricane blast of wind, sending the two children sprawling.

Yugi had moved before Sakura had completely recovered, getting between Sakura and the bird.

"The key!" Kero said, turning to her, "Like I told you earlier!"

Sakura nodded, holding out a small golden key with tiny white wings and a pink beak, "Key which hides the power of the dark! Show your true form before me! I, Sakura, command you under our contract! RELEASE!"

Yugi was startled by Sakura's cry and the bright light that was the key becoming a staff, with the same end, but bigger wings, allowing the bird to get a free shot in that sent Yugi crashing into the wall.

"It's the FLY card, its element is wind." The teddy bear said, "You should be able to capture it with WINDY! But we have to get closer."

"I'll distract it." Yugi said, getting up and attracting the bird's attention.

Sakura skated up the ramp while the bird was distracted, jumping and landing on the birds back. "Wind, become a binding chain." She tossed the card forward and it hit her staff as she reached it, "WINDY!"

The air like woman wrapped around he bird, bringing it crashing further along the viaduct and Sakura landed safely, pointing her staff at it as Yugi caught up, "Return to the guise you were meant to be, CLOW CARD!"

The bird vanished into a card that formed at the end of her staff, a magic circle glowing on the floor that Yugi didn't want to approach. Once the card was finished, the circle vanished and Sakura sank to her knees.

"I thought I was gonna die!"

"Sakura, what about…?" Kero asked, pointing at Yugi, whose concerned amethyst eyes watched nervously from the top of the viaduct.

"Yugi…"

"Sakura…"

"You two make a pretty good team." Kero said, trying to break the stillness in the air.

"What just happened?" Yugi asked.

"Well…"

"I won't tell anyone." Yugi promised, "But how did you get your stuffed toy to talk?"

"I'm not a stuffed toy!" Kero protested, "I'm Kerberos, the guardian beast of the Book of Clow and Sakura is the Cardcaptor, whose job it is to collect the Clow Cards!"

"Who fell asleep on the job." Sakura pointed out, "And I never said I would do it you know." She said, pointing accusingly at Kero.

"I'll see you in school?" Yugi asked.

"Yeap." Sakura nodded.

Yugi paused as he turned to go, "Uhhh, how do I get back from here?"

Sakura laughed, "Straight down the viaduct and then two rights, a left, straight on at the huge signpost and then you're back at school. You know how to get home from there?" She asked, "I'll walk with you."

"Thanks." Yugi looked embarrassed.

"Uhhh Sakura, before I forget, you need to write your name on that FLY Card," Kero said as they started walking, "Or it might try to escape."

"What?"

"It might try to escape."

"Does it always summon that huge bird?" Yugi asked, interested. This was so much like a game that he wasn't sure if he was dreaming. He wasn't even sure of anything past the bird swooping at him…

"No." Kero was scornful, "In fact, Sakura, why don't you try using it?"

"O…ok. FLY!"

The wings on her staff grew huge and Yugi watched as Sakura did a few practice swoops before laughing and calling down, "Yugi, this way!"

With Sakura leading from above, it didn't take long to get home and after saying goodnight, the two split ways again, this time heading for their beds.

It had been a rather strange night.

* * *

**Author Note: - So, a new plot bunny and a new crossover series. Welcome to my Cardcaptor Sakura/Yu-Gi-Oh! Crossover and I hope you'll enjoy it.**

**DISCLAIMER: - Now on the list of things I don't own; Yu-Gi-Oh!, Harry Potter, Cardcaptor Sakura, Pokemon, Sonic the Hedgehog, the Clow Cards, the Millennium items, Kingdom Hearts... the list is getting quite big...  
**


	2. CLOUDy and RAINy Days

**Disclaimer: - Yu-Gi-Oh! belongs to ****Kazuki Takahashi**** and Cardcaptor Sakura belongs to CLAMP. I don't own either, I just like playing in thier universes.**

* * *

"Sakura, I have something to show you." Tomoyo was excitable the next morning as Sakura was about to start cleaning duty. She pulled her camcorder out of her bag and put it on Sakura's desk.

"A video?"

"I was able to film something amusing extremely amusing last night." Tomoyo pressed play.

Sakura had to fight to not show any emotion as she saw herself, flying across the sky and doubling back, laughing at something, Kero at her side. "What is that?"

Tomyo was grinning, "This is an enlargement." The video started again and Sakura saw that there was no way she was going to be able to talk herself out of it, as it was clearly her on the winged staff, a terrified yelp escaping her.

"What's wrong Sakura?" Kero exploded out of her school bag, "What's happened? Is it a Clow Card?" Kero stopped and stared at Tomoyo, who looked at the video and then at the flying bear.

"My, a striking resemblance." Tomoyo looked thrilled.

"Have you seen Yugi yet?" Sakura asked cautiously.

"He normally walks to school with Tea." Tomoyo pointed out. "Why?"

"No reason, I just wondered."

There was no chance for her to say anymore, as Raine, Sakura's cleaning duty partner arrived and Kero dove back into the bag.

Tomoyo didn't miss, as the rest of the class slipped in, that Yugi's bag looked a little heavier then usual and he tried to catch Sakura's eye. Something had happened there. She thought as a message was passed along the classroom, from Sakura, to her, then to Raine and then along until it reached Tea and finally Yugi. Who started, frowned and looked at Sakura, and then gave an almost imperceptible nod before turning back to his class work.

When lunch time rolled around, the gathered out of sight of the main football pitch, where the majority of the school's students gathered and set up their dinner things, Kero escaping the pack and explaining why he'd come to school.

Tea, of course, thought he was adorable and started hugging him, once she'd gotten over the shock of a talking teddy, of course.

"I was distracted or I would have sensed it sooner." Kero said, as Tea finally let him go so they could eat. "Sakura, meet that huge magical power I told you about last night." He pointed at Yugi.

"ME?" Yugi yelped, then looked around, checking no one was coming over, "I don't have magic."

"Another new magician!" Kero asked, "There's two in the same area? Is there no one around who can recognize magical talent anymore?" He sighed.

"So, if it's alright to tell us. Who is he?" Yugi asked, wondering for a moment, if his new 'magic' had anything to do with his Grandfather's tales of the 'power of Darkness'. "You didn't tell me last night."

"He says his name is Kerberos," Sakura said.

"He sure looks different from his name." Tomoyo said.

"He's so cute." Tea said, offering one of her sandwiches to the bear.

"I've been calling him Kero." Sakura said as Kero accepted it.

"Don't call me like I'm some frog! I'm Kerberos, the Beast of the Seal who guards the Clow Cards!" Kero protested before taking a bite and grinning, "Yum!"

"Clow Cards?" Tomoyo asked.

They ate while Sakura and Kero explained everything about the Clow Cards and Sakura becoming a Cardcaptor, and then they were onto Yugi and his magic, with Kero suggesting that they look up the last people to have any link to Yugi's magic, since it wasn't a style that Kero recognized and since Clow Reed had been the best magician in the whole world, then it had to be a really rare type of magic. It was certainly old, Kero knew that much.

Tea was thinking as Tomoyo squealed, "The Cardcaptor that protects the city from the catastrophes of the Clow Cards and the mysterious newcomer, with old, powerful magic that helps her every step of the way… that's so awesome"

"Wait what?" Tea yelped, "Yugi only helped once."

"And I've only captured one card!" Sakura protested.

"No, you can do it Sakura! You too Yugi!" Tomoyo was excited and Yugi laughed as she turned to Sakura and practically leapt on her, "If you don't mind, can you show me how you use your magic?"

"Yeah, yeah, show her!" Kero cheered, making Yugi suddenly very glad that he didn't have a… could he call Kero a mentor…? He was more like one of those morality pets the magical girls on TV got.

"_Note to self."_ He thought, _"Never share that thought with the 'Guardian of the Seal'."_

"But…"

"It's all right, there's no problems. Nobody's watching!" Kero continued.

Sakura stood up and took the key out from her pocket as Yugi carefully took the Millennium Puzzle and examined it. It seemed like an ordinary gold object, but why did he have the feeling it was much, much more then that?

"The Key which hides powers of the Dark!" Sakura intoned, glancing over her shoulder to see if Tomoyo and Tea were watching, "Show your true form before me! I, Sakura, command you under our contract! RELEASE!"

Tomoyo watched as the circle lit up below her, the wind forming of it's own accord and blowing their hair around as key became staff in a burst of white light.

"You're able to use magic with this staff?" Tomoyo was asking as Tea watched Yugi's eyes flicker towards Sakura, ruby red for a moment, before amethyst was dancing with amusement at Tomoyo's reaction.

Tomoyo's excitable squeeing was cut short by the sudden formation of clouds and they were drenched by a sudden downpour before they could pack all of their lunch stuff away.

They dove inside, completely drenched and an ill amused Tea wrung out her blanket. "That was sudden." She growled as Yugi quickly put the Puzzle away and Sakura's staff shrank back down into the key and she put it in her pocket again. "It's not supposed to rain today."

"Do you think it's a Clow Card?" Tomoyo asked.

"Dunno." Kero shrugged, "It's a possibility, but I didn't sense one. Not that I can sense much over the amount of power you're wasting, kid." He directed at Yugi.

"Sorry, I don't know how…"

"To control it, I know. But try mediation or something. Your magic is distracting."

"Sorry." Yugi said, before Sakura had to grab Kero and stuff him unceremoniously into her bag when some of the upper years passed them. "Meditation?" He asked the group in general.

"It's when you clear your mind of thoughts." Tea said knowledgeably, "I'm not sure how it works, but there might be a book on it in the library."

"I don't think you're distracting, Yugi." Tomoyo said, "So perhaps it's only distracting to people who are sensitive to magic."

"Still, if it's problem and stopping Kero sense the Clow Cards, I should do something about it. I just wish I knew someone with…" Yugi trailed off, "I should talk to Grandpa."

"Will he believe you?"

"He believed all the other myths surrounding the Millennium Puzzle, why wouldn't he believe this?"

"Point." Tea acknowledged, "But you can't skip school."

"I'll go at the weekend." Yugi said, "Mum said she'd pay for me to visit any time I want…oh… I can't go on my own…"

"I'd come." Tea nodded.

"Me too." Sakura agreed.

"I'm coming." Tomoyo said, "I don't want to miss out on seeing where you come from and finding out more!"

The bell for class rang and the four looked at each other and shot off to class.

* * *

It was still raining heavily when the four left school, passing out their phone numbers before they left, Tomoyo's body guards picking her up, and Sakura and Tea leaving Yugi with directions to the library, since Tea had extra classes again and Sakura had to go ask her father about the weekend while Toya, her older brother, was in.

Yugi was soaked again and wishing he'd brought a coat this morning by the time he reached the library.

Meditation was a weird thing to be asking about at Yugi's age, but the librarian accepted the remark that it was for a school project and helped him find the books, which were in the spiritual welfare section of the library, helping him to pick out the best books for information on, how to go about, and practical uses for meditation, since the rain had slowed the customers to an almost dead stop.

He took them out, on his new library card, and dashed home through the rain to start reading.

The house was empty again, his Mum wasn't around much anymore, with the new job, and Yugi would have traded his magic to have his Grandfather and his mother around… but somehow he just knew that he wouldn't trade his friends.

He picked up the phone, putting the books down on the table and rang his Grandfather, "Hi Grandpa… Yeah, it's me."

He was on the phone a good half an hour, ringing off with a promise that he would see his Grandpa this weekend and he might be bringing his friends, and the rain was still going. It was dark in the house, the heavy clouds blotting out the sunlight and the street lamps providing what little light was reaching the household.

He would have turned the light on, but he heard something break and grabbed his backpack, heading towards the noise. Probably not the smartest idea in the world, but he had to know if something had fallen from the stack of plates that had been on the draining board or whether someone had broken in, in which case he needed to call the police.

It turned out to be two plates and bowl, though Yugi couldn't work out how the bowl had taken a nose dive when it had been safely on the back of the work surface and was cleaning it up when his mum got home. "Yugi? You in?"

* * *

It was insane.

The rain was still going the next morning, causing everyone to turn up for class in big, thick coats and with umbrellas and hoods up, and football pitch was flooded, making it look so much like a swimming pool that the teachers threatened to send some of the students home for their swimming kits and they'd give them swimming lessons instead.

"Ok, this isn't natural for this time of year." Tea said, as she joined her friends who were hidden in the library for lunch, "This weather has to be something to do with… Yugi, what are you doing?"

Yugi was sat in a chair with his eyes closed, breathing evenly, counting under his breath.

"That's better." Kero breathed, sounding breathless, "In, two, three, four…" He was guiding the breathing patterns, "Out, two, three, four…"

Tea looked at Sakura, who was looking confused. "Kero's helping Yugi with meditation. Is it me or is it easier to breathe in here?"

Tomoyo gave her an intriguing look as Kero left off counting, seeing as Yugi had gotten it and turned to Sakura. "It's his magic. It's stifling."

"Why?" Tea asked.

"My magic comes from the sun." Kero said, "Which I can't currently draw from until he gets his magic under control."

"Does that mean Sakura's is Sun magic too?" Tomoyo asked.

"No, it's similar but not the same, currently she's using the magic of the Clow Cards, they're Dark, which seems to interact well with Yugi's magic, but I think her own magic is something different and whatever his is, it's blocking out hers as well."

"Did you ask about Saturday?" Tea asked Sakura, who was playing with her Key, which now hung on a cord around her neck, and Tomoyo, who was sketching something.

"I have to take Toya." Sakura growled, "My big brother. But I can come."

"Mum's not happy," Tomoyo said, "But I managed to get her to agree if we take the limo and my bodyguards can drive us there."

"My parents are fine with it, 'travel is good for you and as long as a responsible adult is going it will be ok by us'." Tea sighed.

"I just hope Toya counts." Sakura laughed.

Yugi's eyes opened and he looked at them with a small grin, "So?" He asked.

"If you can put up with Toya and a limo, we can all come." Tea said.

"Toya?"

"Sakura's big brother."

"And a limo?"

"Tomoyo's bodyguards." Tea answered as Tomoyo finished one sketch, gave them an embarrassed smile and started the next one.

Yugi would have said something else, but both Sakura and Kero gasped.

"What was that?" Sakura asked.

"Clow Cards." Kero growled, "More then one."

"Sorry." Yugi said, frowning, "Any idea where?"

"Up." Kero snorted.

"The rain?" Yugi asked.

"Probably." Kero nodded.

"Can I take 'em with WINDY?" Sakura asked.

"The RAIN card would be easy to defeat if you can locate the actual card, but you may have to capture the one working with it first."

"It's actually called 'The RAIN'?" Tea asked.

"Clow Reed found it was better to name the cards after exactly what they did and define them that way then try to place complicated bonds on the card spirits. Words have a great deal of power when working magic, and defining things similarly is much better then trying to over complicate the spells you're casting and causing the spells to clash with one another."

The four nodded, interested and taking the knowledge in. Kero had taken to advising them, and giving them tips like that, in fact Tomoyo had been taking notes on all of Kero's advice.

"We should wait till after school and go somewhere like Penguin Park." Yugi said, "Where there isn't going to be many people around to see us."

"Can you hold off until around fiveish?" Tomoyo asked.

"I suppose." Sakura frowned, "But what if the cards have moved on by then?"

"They won't have, if they haven't gone already." Kero said, "It'll be safe to hold off a little longer but we can't wait too long."

"I promise, I'll be there at five."

"Penguin Park." Sakura nodded, "The main entrance?"

There were three nods. "I can't." Tea shook her head, looking frustrated, "I have to go…"

"You're not that far behind in your studies, Tea." Tomoyo frowned, "Can't you skip one?"

"I…"

"Or at least get out early."

"I suppose…"

"Come on Tea, Sakura and Yugi are going to be capturing a Clow Card! How often will you get to see them in action?"

"I should be able to get away by five fifteen at the latest." Tea nodded finally.

"We'll wait, right guys?" Yugi asked.

"That's right."

"We wouldn't do it without you."

Tea smiled, "Thanks girls." She paused, "And thanks Yugi."

* * *

It was five thirty pm and the group were gathered in a trailer driven to the main park entrance by Tomoyo's bodyguards.

"What, exactly, are those?" Sakura asked pointing at the clothes hanging from railings on both sides of the trailer.

"Costumes." Tomoyo giggled.

"No way." Yugi backed up, noting that on the left side hung all girl's costumes and on the right hung all boy's costumes.

"Please Yugi. I have waterproof costumes and every magical duo has cool clothes."

"That and you'd like them to be wearing your designs when you film them." Tea laughed.

"Well…"

"Please Sakura?" Kero begged, "The cards will take you more seriously if you look the part."

"Oh…alright."

"You should change too, if you're going to help." Kero directed at Yugi, "It'll reflect badly on Sakura if she's dressed up for battle and her helper isn't."

"Oh…ok." Yugi examined the costume he was handed. It was made of a strange waxy material in the same deep blue as Sakura's dress, but his was jacket and trousers instead of a dress, with long white sleeves and gold trim around the edges of both pieces, his black top he'd been wearing underneath his school uniform going well with it.

"Here." Tomoyo handed him a thick gold chain, which she'd just threaded through the loop on the Millennium Puzzle.

"Thanks." Yugi said, putting it on, but Tomoyo had already turned to Sakura and was adjusting the huge deep blue bow on the waterproof blue, white and gold dress.

"Sakura, Yugi, this way!" Tomoyo giggled, pointing the camcorder at them, causing Sakura to go bright red and Yugi to turn away quickly. "I have something for you too Kero." Tomoyo was still giggling as she helped Kero with a small deep blue and gold bow, "Now where's that hat?"

She dug out a huge witch's hat, in the same deep blue and with gold trim, and handed it to Sakura, before attempting to find the counter part for Yugi.

"It's fine." Yugi said, semi-relived, when she realised that she'd left it at home, "Hats never sit well on my head, too much hair." He indicated the spikes.

"I suppose…"

"Clow Cards? Causing the rain outside?" Tea asked, very much of the opinion Tomoyo had forgotten about them in her attempts to play dress-up.

"Let's go!" Kero grinned, pushing open the door of the trailer and flying out into the rain. Sakura and Yugi were close behind and once Tomoyo had locked up, Tea and Tomoyo chased after them.

The river was swollen, easily covering the path that ran alongside it and the bridge that went over the river was a couple of inches under water.

"This is insane, where should we start?" Yugi called over the sound of the river.

"We need to capture RAIN." Sakura called back.

"It has to be you, I can't fly!" Yugi pointed out.

"Point…" She called her staff and activated the FLY card, shooting upwards, leaving Yugi stood watching.

"If I knew more about my magic, I might be a bit more helpful right now…" Yugi grumbled more to himself then anyone else.

Sakura looked downwards for a moment before she broken through the clouds, frowning in confusion as another layer of clouds sat above her in the clear white sky. "WINDY stir up the clouds and find RAIN!" She touched the card with her staff and the glowing yellowy white woman shot out of it, flying between the clouds, creating slipstream wherever she flew and created a twister that sucked up the clouds.

Sakura frowned as something started floating towards the ground, but had to focus on the card in front of her as WINDY deposited a very dizzy RAIN in front of her.

"Return to the guise you meant to be, Clow Card!"

The RAIN attempted to escape, but was sucked into her card, WINDY returning of her own volition, and Sakura started diving towards where she could see clouds forming below.

"Kero?"

"The CLOUD." He replied, "Accounts for the second layer of clouds and look…"

Yugi wasn't sorry that the rain had stopped, but he was now trying to work out exactly where that little girl whose hair had looked like a really fluffy cloud had gone.

It wasn't hard to work out from the style of her clothes that she was the Clow Card that had been working with RAIN, and he could guess that she had something to do with clouds, but what he couldn't work out was how to…

He bumped into someone, and, somehow sensing that this person wasn't human, he attempted to grab onto them, missing and heading straight for the river.

Amethyst went ruby and only a surprisingly quick reaction time stopped him from going into the raging river, where he would have been swept away. The girl had stopped creating clouds and was now watching Yugi warily, as if he might bite.

"You're a Clow Card, aren't you?" Yugi asked.

The girl looked surprised and nodded.

Yugi smirked, casting a spell that sent out of wave of energy that acted like a net, you could actually see the golden strands.

This would have been highly effective had the girl not turned into a cloud and slipped through the gaps.

However, as she reformed to run away, she ran straight into Sakura's staff and was turned back into a card.

With CLOUD's capture, the clouds in the sky faded, leaving the real, fluffy, white, clouds to float by lazily in the clear blue sky.

"Nice try Yu…" Sakura trailed off as she watched Yugi examine her, his ruby eyes wary for a moment, before they danced in amusement and became amethyst again.

"Sorry I wasn't much help." Yugi apologized.

"Yugi, are you aware your eyes turn red when you're using your magic?" Kero asked.

"No…" Yugi paused, "Should they?"

"I don't know." Kero admitted. "But your grandpa might. We'll have to ask him."

"That was great." Tomoyo was cheering, having recorded the entire thing. "I can't wait to get this to editing…"

Whatever she was about to say next was cut off by a round of sneezes from the group gathered.

"Hot chocolate." Yugi decided, "My house."

* * *

**Author Note: - Three down, how many to go? Hehe, so much is different when you add in just two characters and a whole new brand of magic. Remember fans of the Yu-Gi-Oh! Series, this is based around when all the Characters are ten, so a lot of things haven't happened yet.**


	3. Quiet VOICEs

"Ahhhhhhhhhh! It's trying to eat me!"

"Mau!"

Thud.

There was a pause while the four who were sat in the kitchen, warming up worked out the implications of those events and then there was a rush for the living room, where Kero was going, "Get it off! Get it off! Get it off! Get it off! Get it off!" and Yugi's half brown spotted Bengal kitten his mother had bought home last night mewed at them from her position stood atop the teddy.

"Get it off! Get it off! Get it off! Get it off! Get it off! Get it off! Get it off! Get it off! Get it off! Get it off! Get it off! Get it off! Get it off!"

"Kero, Aiko's only a kitten."

"Get it off!"

Yugi sighed and the girls giggled, picking up his cat and putting her on the sofa.

"She's crazy!" Kero complained as the group brought their drinks into the living room and settled down to talk.

"She's seven weeks old."

"She's still crazy."

"She's gorgeous!" Tea said, offering her fingers to the bundle of fluff and got them licked in return.

"Oh yeah, side with the crazy cat." Kero grumbled.

"She's a baby, you're hundred of years old!"

"She's bigger then me!"

"By an inch!"

"She's still bigger then me."

"Are you a man or a mouse?"

"Technically I'm a lion."

"Which makes you what… two hundred times her size right now?"

"Shush."

There was another round of giggles as Aiko settled down to sleep on Yugi's lap.

"Anyway, shouldn't that make you technically family."

"I am in no way, shape or form related to that insane fur ball."

"You are both members of the feline family."

"Doesn't count."

"Ahhh-choo." Sakura sneezed, spilling some of her hot chocolate. Seeing Yugi was about to wake his cat up so he could clean up, she shook her head, "I've got it."

She was back, six sneezes later, with a dishcloth and tea towel, cleaning up her mess quickly and sat back with them it time to hear Kero play a hundred questions with Yugi about the Millennium Puzzle which was still hung around his neck on the thick gold chain, Tomoyo having said he could keep it until it clashed with a costume, and then he would need to swap it over.

Unfortunately, to a lot of the questions Kero asked, Yugi only had 'I don't know' or 'Mostly' as an answer, including 'were you aware of what was going on during those fights?' and 'do you remember what happened directly after you finished the Puzzle?'

However Yugi did know the answer to 'do you have any cakes?', which he answered by getting a tub of cakes out of the cupboard and treating his friends to a couple each.

There was then another round of explanations about magic, which dissolved into a talk about Clow Reed and the problems he came across, including a stern warning about showing off their magic to anyone outside the group.

Not all mages were willing to treat powerful youngsters with the same respect that Kero was or Clow Reed would have. Some of them would see tools to be used, or rivals to be destroyed. It was dangerous enough to have the Clow Cards loose, without inviting trouble from outside sources.

It was on this lovely note that Tomoyo's bodyguards, who Yugi had taken some hot chocolate out to, but had refused to come in, knocked on the door to say that Miss Daidoji had to go home, Sakura noted that she should be home soon too as Toya was doing the tea and took Kero with her, and Tea realised she should have been home almost an hour ago.

Aiko mewed for food and Yugi put down her bowl, filled with kitten food, before sitting on the side, with the cold remains of is hot chocolate and thought about everything.

He was scared, if he was honest, he couldn't remember the two battles with the Clow Cards, he didn't know anything about his magic, and while he was pretty certain for the way that Kero was talking, that Sakura's Clow Cards wouldn't attract many trouble makers, he didn't know how many people knew about his brand of magic, and what trouble it could cause his friends.

Would it be better to pull away now, rather then risk endangering his friends?

Oh he could say that Sakura's magic was just as dangerous, he didn't underestimate the power of the Clow Cards even slightly, but…

"Mau?" Aiko was attempting to join him on the side, making Yugi slide off the side and pick her up for a cuddle.

And he was inviting trouble. They followed Sakura into battle, because that's what friends did, could he expect them to do any less for him…?

Not with the wish…

Yugi still felt guilty about that, wondering if they were his friends because of the wish… except that couldn't be true, right? Tea had been his friend before he'd made the wish… and Sakura and Tomoyo had been nice to him the day he'd completed it… right?

"Mau." Aiko licked his hand, demanding to be put down.

He smiled and put the small ball of fur down. Said fluff ball proceeded to go into the living room and climb up the curtains, sitting, somehow, on the curtail rail and mewing loudly.

Once she was down, bored of that game, she proceeded to follow Yugi upstairs and sleep on the top shelf of his bookcase while he started his homework.

Work on homework now, worry about things that can't be helped later…

The whispering voice, the one that sometimes guided him when he was uncertain, and the blackouts stayed at the back of his mind…

* * *

"Hey guys."

It was Thursday lunch time and the group were sat under their tree , out of sight of the main football pitch, but not too far from their door for when the bell rang.

Tomoyo was the last to join them, her bag really bulging today, and she sat with them and showed off a tape of something or another.

"The music teacher recorded my voice last practise," Tomoyo was saying, "And gave me a copy."

"What for?" Yugi asked, "Everyone knows you have the best singing voice in the school."

"It's for a competition." Tomoyo looked excited. "Next week there's an inter school music competition and the teacher needs a copy of me singing to convince the headmaster to let me enter."

"You'll get in easily." Tea said, passing Kero a sandwich. It seemed to have become a habit recently.

"I've got practice every weeknight until the competition." Tomoyo continued, "But the teacher says that she'll work with me." She paused, "Before I forget…" She pulled out four mobile phones from her bag. "Mum wants to know if we can test these for her company."

There were two blue ones and two pinks ones, with Kero and Yugi getting the blue ones and Tea and Sakura getting the pink ones.

"I've already put our numbers in the phone book. I figured it would be a good way to keep in contact during Captures."

"It's a good idea." Yugi nodded.

"What about credit?" Tea asked, already contemplating swapping the numbers over from the phone her parents had gotten her.

"Mum said something about a 300 minute limit." Tomoyo frowned, thinking, "On each phone. She wants to know if they're easy to use and can do everything they need to." She shrugged.

"At least mine's blue." Kero said, noting the wing motif that seemed to adorn everything around Sakura, "No offence, but pink isn't my colour."

"But you'd look so cute in pink." Tomoyo half teased and half started scheming a pink costume that would look good on Sakura and Yugi that she could get Kero to wear pink for.

Yugi shuddered, just knowing that Kero's words meant there was pink in his future and decided that he didn't want to know, getting on with eating.

"Can we stay and watch?" Tea asked, trying to change the subject. "I'd love to hear you sing."

"Sure." Tomoyo nodded, "Then maybe we can go out for ice cream afterwards."

"Yeah!"

"Sure!"

"Yum, ice cream!"

"Kero!"

"What? I can have some can't I?"

* * *

Kero was over stuffed on ice cream when they finally got home, late that evening.

Practise had gone so well they'd had two or three ice creams each. She hadn't realized just how much Yugi ate until she saw him buy his own food and Tea had seemed completely unsurprised by the fact he was into his fourth ice cream by the time they were walking home.

"Urrrgg… I can't moooooove." Kero was complaining as Sakura's mobile phone went off.

"Kinomoto Sakura speaking, how can I… Ms Daidoji?" Sakura frowned, "Tomoyo's lost her voice?! Of course I'll speak to the teachers tomorrow. I hope she gets better soon." She paused, "It might be all the practising… can you tell her I'll be over tomorrow and I'll see if the others want to come… thanks… bye." She put the phone down and flopped onto her bed, dislodging the Guardian of the Clow, who bounced and nearly fell off of the bed.

"Tomoyo's lost her voice?" Kero sounded really concerned.

"Uh huh. Her mum thinks' it's because she was practising too much but she can't even whisper…"

"How strange. Is she sick at all?"

"No, that's the weirdest… Kero… You don't think it could be a Clow Card do you?"

"Huuummmm." Kero frowned, thinking, "I do know of one Clow Card that might steal a voice, but we'd have to wait to see if it comes back before we can start thinking like that."

"What's it called?"

"The VOICE." Kero said, "It takes voices it likes and uses them, because it doesn't have one of it's own."

"Oh… but why Tomoyo's?"

"Because she has the best singing voice I've ever heard. It makes sense that The VOICE would want it."

"But…" Sakura sighed, got up, picked up her mobile again and started calling everyone.

Kero watched her in action and smiled slightly. She had good friends, he certainly wouldn't have expected Tea and Yugi's help considering that Yugi had only really gotten to know Sakura on Monday. If anything he was concerned about the lack of people available to teach Yugi and Sakura about the other forms their magic could take.

He was certain that the gold net spell Yugi had cast to try to catch The CLOUD had been something that Yugi had thought up on the spot and he could see how both useful and dangerous working like that with magic could be. If anything Kero had the easy job, Sakura's magic was clearly focused on the Clow Cards, and anything extra she could do would be quite easy to teach since he'd seen Clow Reed in action before.

"We're going around after school tomorrow." Sakura said firmly, as she put the phone down for the third time and sank onto her bed. "Hopefully Tomoyo will be better by then, but if not…"

"We'll find it." Kero promised.

* * *

"Hi Tomoyo." Tea said, "How are you feeling?"

Tomoyo paused, wrote something down and held up a sign that said, "I'm fine, honest."

"Still nothing?" Yugi asked, sitting down at Tomoyo's gesture.

"The doctor says he doesn't know what's wrong, but I think it's a Clow Card."

"How do you know?" Kero asked, leaving the bag.

"A pink ribbon like thing attacked me and once it left, so had my voice."

"It's The VOICE." Kero explained again for Tomoyo's sake.

"That's great." Tea said, once Kero had finished, "But how do we lure it out so we can capture it?"

"The VOICE would come out again if it heard a voice as good as Tomoyo's." Kero said.

"But none of us can sing that well." Sakura pointed out.

There was a knock on the door, causing Kero to dive into Sakura's school bag, and Tomoyo's mother stepped into the room with four cups, a pot of tea and a box that looked like a cookie box. "Hello." She nodded to the group.

Tea, Sakura and Yugi got to their feet and bowed, "Hello."

"I've never met you two before." Tomoyo's mum looked interested, as she looked over the two newcomers to the room.

"I'm Gardener Tea," Tea smiled at her.

"I'm Muto Yugi."

"I'm Tomoyo's mother, it's nice to meet you." She smiled at them, putting the tray down and laughing when Sakura went to help her, telling Sakura she didn't have too, but accepting the help.

The box turned out to have cake in, which, once Tomoyo's mother had left of course, swiftly fell to the hunger of the teddy bear, who ending up chasing Yugi around because Yugi actually wanted to eat his cake instead of giving it to Kero.

The distraction didn't last long however, and soon they were back to trying to find a solution to the VOICE problem.

"Tomoyo? Do you still have that tape?" Yugi asked, an idea forming in his head as Kero landed on his plate and stole some of the cake from it.

Tomoyo frowned, nodded and, looking confused, went and got it from the desk.

"Do you have a stereo?" Yugi asked, and grinned when Tomoyo opened a cupboard to reveal one and speakers, "Ok, I have an idea."

* * *

"**A light dances among the clouds**

**And seasons pour down on the meadow…"**

A pink ribbon shot into the empty room, stopped and becoming a very pink girl who looked confused, not knowing where the sound was coming from.

Sakura shot into the room, closely followed by Yugi.

The Clow Card turned to flee.

"No you don't!" Amethyst had gone ruby again as Yugi cast something that shimmered purple and blocked off the windows causing VOICE to stare at him, scared.

"Clow Card!" Sakura called, attracting her attention, and holding out her staff, "Return to the guise you were meant to be! Clow Card!"

The VOICE turned into pink smoke which became a Clow Card and flew into Yugi's hand, a little yellowish light rising from it and floating into Tomoyo.

"What would I do with a Clow Card?" Yugi asked, amused, and would have handed it over to Sakura had she not been hovering over Tomoyo, asking about her voice.

"Sakura…" Sakura glomped her best friend in relief.

"Well that was easy." Tea said, sounding surprised.

"VOICE isn't an offensive card." Kero said, as Yugi handed over the Clow Card.

"But why did it float to Yugi?" Sakura asked.

"Clow Cards will often choose who they consider to have captured them by who forces them back into their true form or they feel did the most work to capture them." Kero said, frowning, "It's up to the other person the Clow Card chooses if they want to hand over the Clow Card to the real Cardcaptor or keep it for themselves."

"Will VOICE listen to Sakura if it chose me?" Yugi asked, concerned.

"You gave it to her of your own free will. It should accept this easily." Kero nodded, "But be careful with what spells you're throwing around."

The purple barrier at the windows faded away and Yugi sat down heavily.

"Five down, forty seven to go."

"Ahhh, don't say it like that!" Sakura complained, "It makes it sound like it'll take me forever!"

"Five in five days? Doubt it." Tea pointed out.

"One a day." Tomoyo giggled.

"Does this mean I have to catch one tomorrow because there was only one this time?" Sakura asked.

"I hope not." Yugi said, "We're going to Domino after school!"

"I doubt a Clow Card would have gone that far." Kero pointed out.

"I wonder if Mum has anymore cake…"

"Cake?" Kero asked.

"I'll go ask."

"Cake! Cake! Cake! Cake! Cake! Cake! Cake! Cake! Cake!" Kero started dancing and chanting, making everyone forget exactly what they'd been talking about.

* * *

**Author Note: - Ok, The VOICE, not my favourite card to write a chapter for. Here's one anyway.**


	4. A Skilled FIGHTer

When Yugi had decided on going back to Domino, this hadn't exactly been his plan.

Not that he was complaining about being driven there in a limo and having his friends there, it was more the fact that they couldn't talk about anything they normally talked about because they had had to bring Toya, Sakura's big brother, and he was worried about how to get Toya out of the way long enough to ask his Grandpa the questions he needed to ask.

"Yugi, cola?" Tomoyo asked, opening the mini fridge.

Ok, forget any complaints, this was unbelievably cool. He couldn't believe that Tomoyo's mother, who was the CEO of an electronics company, had let them use the limo for a two and a half hour drive to the Kame Game Shop in Domino and he would have to think of some way to thank her, it certainly was about a million times better then travelling on the train.

"Yes, please."

Sakura was watching Toya, aware that he'd skipped work for this and that Yukito, his best friend, was covering for him. He was deep in a book about spirits and snorting derisively at some of the information in it.

His little sister was aware that her older brother could see spirits, he'd mentioned a couple of times that he'd seen their mother, so he probably knew more then the book did, which made Sakura wonder why he was reading it.

Tomoyo passed him the drink and went back to her sketching. Kero, who was hidden in Sakura's bag, had said that he didn't think that there would be any Clow Cards all the way out here, but she'd brought a couple of costumes, just in case, including the pink one she'd designed just to annoy Kero.

"Yugi…" Tea started and trailed off. She was really worried. Worried about how Yugi's grandpa would react to all of this, about what they would learn from Mr Muto, and worried about how Yugi himself would react if there was bad news about his magic.

It was funny, she'd become his friend because she hated seeing anyone get bullied and he looked lonely. She'd never expected to get drawn into all of this insanity and she was wondering exactly what she could do to help.

Sakura was the Cardcaptor, Yugi had magic, Tomoyo recorded the battles and made the costumes and Kero gave advice… where did she fit in? Was she just there to ground them in normality?

She sighed and watched the country pass the window. She didn't like thinking like this, but it did feel a lot like she was the odd one out in the group and it wasn't fair…

They were passing through Domino's outer boroughs when Sakura sat upright and they heard a muffled sound from her bag.

Tea frowned at her as Toya looked up from his book for a moment. In response Sakura took out the key hanging around her key, holding it for a moment before letting it fall onto her top.

Tea's eyes drifted to Yugi, who looked like he'd caught the exchange and wasn't quite sure what to make of it.

What he was actually thinking was, _"Great, now we have to lose Toya long enough to get the answers from Grandpa and catch a Clow Card." _Then he paused, _"And why is it all the way out here in the first place? Does this mean that they could be anywhere?"_

Pulling up outside the Game Shop, Tomoyo asked her bodyguards to pick them later, and Toya, surprisingly, went with them, telling Sakura that she'd better behave while she was here or he'd never take her go anywhere ever again.

Sakura promised, while Tomoyo asked her bodyguards to drop Toya off in the centre.

Once all the adults were gone and Yugi had led them around to the back door of the game shop, he turned to them and asked, "Alright, how did a Clow Card get to Domino?"

"I don't know." Kero admitted, "It shouldn't have travelled this far from where it was released."

"Are there any Clow Cards that Tomoeda is unsuited too that might have made the effort to migrate?" Tea asked, noting Kero's complete confusion.

"I don't think so." Kero shook his head, "Tomoeda's pretty comprehensive, even WATERY and EARTHY shouldn't want to go anywhere."

"Then why is it here?" Sakura asked.

"I don't know."

"Maybe we should go get it before we speak to Grandpa." Yugi frowned.

"No." Sakura shook her head, "We can go get it afterwards."

"If we don't see your Grandpa first we might run out of time before it gets too late and they come and pick us up, and then he'd wonder why you came when you said you would and mention it to your mum." Tomoyo pointed out.

Yugi sighed, agreed and pressed the doorbell.

Tea had to wonder if his Grandpa had been waiting for them, as the door opened almost immediately and Yugi introduced them to his Grandfather, who ushered the group upstairs.

"It's nice to see you Yugi, and I'm glad you've made some friends while you've been in Tomoeda." There was a pause, "You said that you completed the Millennium Puzzle? May I have a look?"

Yugi took it off and handed it over. "Grandpa, we need to ask you some questions, but…"

"What about?" Solomon asked as he examined the completed puzzle, which resembled an upside down pyramid.

"It's going to sound crazy." Yugi said quietly…

"What is?" Solomon looked at his grandson and could easily read from his body posture that he wasn't sure how to approach the subject. "Yugi, what's wrong?"

"What magic did the people who owned this have?" Yugi blurted.

"What?"

"The Puzzle's from Ancient Egypt, right?" Yugi asked, "What magic did the Ancient Egyptians have?"

"Yugi, what do you mean?" Solomon asked, "Why do you want to know?"

"Well… say for instance someone found a magic book and accidently activated the magic in that book and then her friends decided to help and one of them discovered that he… I mean they had magic that they didn't have before and the only new thing they could think of was the fact they'd completed the Puzzle… what new powers should this person have?"

Subtlety, Tea decided, was not Yugi's strong point.

"Which one of you has the magic book?" Solomon asked the girls.

"I do." Sakura said.

"Kinomoto-San, right?"

"Just Sakura, please, Moto-Sensei."

Solomon laughed, "It's been a while since anyone called my Muto-Sensei. Just call me Solomon, please Sakura, or Grandpa, whichever you feel more comfortable with. Could you tell me more about the book?"

"I think Kero could tell you more," Sakura said, "Is it ok if I let him out of the bag? He's been in there since we left Tomoeda."

"Sure." Solomon tried not to laugh at the indignant look on the winged teddy's face as he scolded Sakura for letting him be stuck in there to two and a half hours.

"I'm sorry Kero, but could you please explain about the Clow Cards to Yugi's Grandpa?"

"Sure, but you owe me cake." Kero growled and turned to Solomon. "I'm Kerberos, the Guardian of the Clow Cards and information provider to Sakura, the Cardcaptor, and your Grandson, Yugi, who's a new mage." Kero bowed to Muto Solomon, "I was hoping you could provide information that would be helpful for training your Grandson to use his magic."

"And what are the Clow Cards?" Solomon asked reasonably, surprising the children, who had expected him to flip out at a talking teddy bear.

"Fifty-Two magical cards with different abilities." Kero said, happy that Solomon was being so reasonable and willing to have a conversation about magic with someone who might know what Kero needed to, "The Clow Cards were created by Clow Reed, my old Master, a very long time ago, and have been dormant in the Clow Book since his death. When Sakura used The WINDY, she accidently blew away the other cards and has since recaptured five of them. Yugi has assisted with almost every capture."

"What do you need to know?"

"Everything you know about the Millennium Puzzle," Kero said, "As well as anything you know about the magic of the people that owned it."

"You want information on the magic of Ancient Egypt."

"If you have it."

Solomon frowned, "I found the Puzzle in a tomb that contained 'The Ultimate Game', that was supposed to have belonged to the most powerful Pharaoh in history." He said, putting the golden item down on the table as they took seats. "There isn't much written about the Pharaohs from those times, except that they had the power to control Shadows and summon incredibly powerful monsters." He paused, "Let me get something…"

"I'll make some tea." Yugi said, diving into the kitchen and they waited for him to get back with tea and cake before Solomon continued, "My friend and colleague, Professor Hawkins, thinks that the monsters that the Millennium Item wielders could summon are some how linked to monsters like these…" He held up a card with a white dragon on it. "Magic and Wizards cards, but there's no proof of this yet other then the fact they've come across carvings that are very similar to the card art."

Kero nodded as Yugi dished out the cake, "Were there any other Millennium Items?"

"Legend says there's seven, but they haven't been seen in so long, I don't doubt that some of them are still buried."

"And do they have any powers of their own?"

"No one knows, it's been such a long time since they've been in circulation and the majority of information about them has been hidden or lost in time."

Kero frowned, "That doesn't help me very much."

"I'm sorry that I can't be more assistance." Solomon said, "I could get in contact with Professor Hawkins and see what information he has, but I think it's best if we keep the magic a secret."

The children agreed.

"What has Yugi been able to do so far?"

"Barrier spells mostly, or that's what it seems like." Kero said, "But he hasn't really gotten into a huge fight with anyone involving magic, he's been providing assistance to Sakura and letting her capture the cards."

"Grandpa…" Yugi paused, "What was the Pharaoh who owned my Puzzle like?"

"Apparently he was incredibly powerful, but no one knows his name, it's been erased, and no name means no afterlife to Egyptians."

"Does that mean he could still be here, as a spirit?" Sakura asked nervously.

"I don't know." Solomon admitted, remembering the young man that had looked so much like Yugi that had saved his life in the tomb, when he'd been shot by his guide. "It's possible."

"_Is that who's been controlling me during the blackouts?" _Yugi thought, _"Are you a Pharaoh, trapped here because you lost your name?"_ There was no response from the Puzzle on the table, not that Yugi expected one.

"What about 'controlling the Shadows'?" Kero asked, "What's that about?"

"I'm not sure about that either, some kind of dark magic that allowed them to use their powers, it wasn't evil, not in the right hands, but it was incredibly powerful but very dangerous." He looked at Yugi, "If your magic is related to that of the Shadows, you will be careful, won't you."

"I will, I promise Grandpa."

"Good. So what about capturing these Clow Cards?" Solomon asked, looking relieved, "How do you do it?" He tucked into his cake.

* * *

Grandpa Muto had said that he'd cover for them, let Yugi and Sakura change in the spare rooms and let the group out the back door, from which Kero and Sakura had led them down several back alleys and up another three before they'd stopped and had a proper look around.

The gold patterns on Yugi's white jacket shimmered in the day light and he was rather glad that he'd gotten away with just gold and white, while Kero, having asked for it with his comment the other day, had found himself landed with a bow that matched Sakura's pink, white and gold dress.

"Where?" Yugi asked.

"Around here somewhere." Kero snapped in reply.

Calling her staff, Sakura looked around, trying to work out exactly where the Clow Card was.

Yugi stiffened as a group of young teens came out from one of the alley ways and Kero dropped into Sakura's arms, but not before noting that Yugi's eyes had gone red.

"Hey look, it's the shrimp." One of them laughed. "It's been a while, shrimp."

"I suggest you turn around and leave Ushio." Yugi growled, "I wouldn't like for something to happen to you."

Tea groaned, magic or not, that group's ring leader was twice Yugi's size, why was he antagonising him?

"I wouldn't be so cocky if I were you, Yugi, after all, remember what happened the last time you tried to back chat me?"

"Yugi…?" Sakura asked, her staff behind her back.

"I'll deal with them." Yugi growled.

"You?" Ushio laughed, "Deal with us." He'd crossed to Yugi in two steps and picked his up by the scruff of the jacket collar. "You've been away so long, you've forgotten your place."

"I'm not scared of you, Ushio." Yugi's eyes glowed, unnerving the huge bully.

Ushio released him and glared as something pushed him back. "What the hell?" He launched a punch.

"Pick on someone your own size!" Someone their own age and blonde was between Yugi and Ushio before Yugi could react to Ushio's attack, blocking the incoming punch and landing a blow that winded the bully. "I hate bullies who pick on kids smaller then them." The blonde growled.

"This has nothing to do with you, punk." Ushio growled as he and the blonde circled.

"Seven on four?" The blonde asked, "Seems like pretty uneven odds to me."

"I repeat, nothing to do with you."

"What if I make it something to do with me?" The kid asked, he had to be around the gang's age, certainly not much older then Yugi, "That is, if you don't mind?" He looked at Yugi, who considered him for a moment and then shook his head.

"Your funeral, kid." Ushio laughed and his bullies advanced.

The blonde surprised everyone by shifting into a (very) rough martial arts stance.

Then there was another interruption as a blue girl dressed in an odd blue dress and knee high blue boots got between Ushio and the blonde. "You're one of them too?" The blonde asked.

"Sakura…" Kero hissed. "The FIGHT card."

The blue girl bowed to the blonde, who bowed back and she attacked, leaving Yugi alone to deal with the huge group of bullies.

"Yugi…"

"Stay back, keep your eyes on HER." The way he stressed her meant he already knew that the girl was a Clow Card. Then the Puzzle, that still hung from that golden chain, glowed brightly, a bright golden light and shadows rose around the legs of Yugi and the bullies, stopping Yugi's friends from approaching, but stopping Ushio and his cronies from moving forward too. "You have threatened my friends, and for this you will pay, Ushio."

"I don't fear you, Yugi." Ushio sneered, "A trick of the light can't cause the sort of pain that I can."

Yugi smirked, a look that the girls had never seen on his face before, "You think you can beat me at everything?"

"That's right, you're too small and weedy to beat me at anything."

"Then how about we play a game?"

The blonde kid was locked in combat with the blue girl and was holding his own remarkably, countering her attacks and striking back when the time was right.

"He's good." Kero murmured.

Sakura nodded, half watching for an opening to capture the Clow Card and half trying to pay attention to the magic that Yugi was using to play his 'game' with Ushio.

Yugi had enticed Ushio into his game, even getting the huge bully to agree that playing without fists or feet. It was some strange game that Sakura didn't recognise, with pieces that had been formed from the shadows that were swirling around and from the terrified looks on the goons' faces they were wishing that their 'boss' hadn't dragged them into this.

The blonde hit the floor hard, rolled to avoid the incoming attack and swept The FIGHT's legs out from beneath her, giving himself time to scramble away and catch his breath.

"Sakura…"

"I know. I know." Sakura murmured as Yugi played a move and she felt the magic shift. "He's going to win, isn't he?"

"Uh huh." Kero answered, having felt the shift, "And the magic knows it."

The FIGHT knocked the blonde into the shadow barrier, making Yugi jump and giving Ushio the opening he was looking forward, kicking Yugi in the stomache as Sakura got between the groaning blonde and the Clow Card.

Yugi went sliding along the floor, but when he got up his forehead had a strange glowing symbol on it and the irritated look in his ruby eyes had hardened into real anger, as he staggered to his feet, holding his stomache. "You cheated Ushio." Yet the tone said that Yugi had expected him too. "Penalty Game."

Everyone's head, even that of The FIGHT, turned towards the Shadows at the tone of Yugi's voice as the Shadows closed in on Ushio, his thugs turning and fleeing as they were released. "Let every blow you inflict upon others be felt by you until you learn that bullying others is not the way."

The Shadows swirled and Sakura felt them settle on Ushio, who roared and went to hit Yugi.

Yugi didn't move and though it was him that Ushio landed the blow on, it was Ushio who went flying backwards with the force of the blow.

"I told you Ushio. Until you learn the error of your ways, you'll feel every blow you land on another person." Yugi sounded smug. "Now I suggest you leave, we have something a lot more important to deal with." Yugi turned away and Ushio attacked again.

The FIGHT countered, sending Ushio flying into a building, where he stopped and slid down, unconscious.

"The FIGHT Card was used for martial arts competitions and real battles." Kero explained as Yugi helped the blonde up, "So she seeks strong opponents. She has a real sense of honour too. Ushio's cheating would have annoyed her."

"What are you?" The blonde asked.

"A friend." Yugi said, ruby watching Sakura, "If you'll let us be."

The blonde didn't say anything, just shoved Yugi and Sakura aside as The FIGHT attacked, managing to knock it down.

"Return to the guise you were meant to be…" Sakura called, pointing her staff at the downed FIGHT card, "Clow Card!"

It became a Clow Card and floated into the blonde's hands. He stared at it, then at the group. "What is it?"

"A Clow Card." Kero said, landing on Sakura's shoulder and startling the kid, "Very powerful magic."

"And those Shadows?"

"Magic." Yugi said, ruby turning tired amethyst.

"Cool." The blonde said, "Wheeler Joey, at your service."

There was a round of introductions, and an exchange of addresses, before Joey handed over The FIGHT and rushed off; calling something about having to tell his little sister all about this and that he'd get in touch soon.

Tired and confused the group headed back to the Kame Game Shop.

"Yugi…?" Tea asked, "What was that?"

"What was what?" Yugi asked.

"That's not funny Yugi, the Shadows that you used against Ushio."

"I think they're part of my magic, but…"

"What?"

"Nothing." Yugi shook his head, "Ushio cheated."

_Is he feeling guilty for casting a spell like that on that thug?_ Kero wondered.

Yugi was, in fact, only partially thinking about that, the other part thinking about how he'd been partially aware during that entire thing, and that he wasn't sure he was comfortable with taking a back seat, especially when whatever was inside him was able to turn the magic they'd been using the defend their friends, against people with that much ease.

Although maybe it wasn't whatever, but whomever, he couldn't help thinking that it was in fact, the Pharaoh, trapped in his item because his name had been lost or stolen…

Was that it? Was he possessed?

It had only attacked Ushio after Yugi had been terrified and the thug had threatened Yugi and his friends… although did it count if the Pharaoh had antagonised Ushio into attacking?

Yugi really didn't know… but now he had more questions for his Grandpa…

* * *

**Author Note: - Here's Joey. Please expect to see more of him in the future. For now though, a cameo appearance. **

**I'm back by the way, luckily one of my friends had a copy of this chapter and most of my HPYGO notes, so... *thanks the Gods for sheer dumb luck*  
**


	5. A CHANGE of circumstance

It was strange.

There had been a lull in the cards, with the recent capture of FLOWER, LIBRA, SONG and BUBBLES, the other Clow Cards seemed to have gone into hiding, not that the gang minded, Sakura now had ten of the cards and she'd only been going a month.

To be honest, Yugi welcomed the lull, with his increasing skill in meditation came an increasing level of awareness whenever he was a passenger in his own body, and he wasn't particularly comfortable with it.

He hadn't dared tell the others, it was once thing to have these Shadow Powers that you were pretty much making up as you went along, it was another to have those powers in the hands of whatever, or rather whoever, was possessing him when he was in danger, or there was a Clow Card around.

That was something Yugi didn't understand, the spirit, who Yugi believed was the Pharaoh who had sealed the dark magic away in the first place, after his Grandfather had told them some of the Puzzle's history, didn't seem to pick up on the presence of Clow Cards and yet was awake and aware the moment that Sakura activated her staff, yet Kero said that the Dark Magic of the Clow was more like Yugi's Shadow Magic then Sakura's other magic…

He was led on his bed at the moment, half expecting a phone call from Sakura, Tea or Tomoyo, while sorting through the Magic and Wizards cards his Grandfather had given him. He wanted to build a strong deck, so that next time he went to Domino, he could challenge his Grandpa to a game…

He held up his Koumori Dragon card, wondering what connection the cards had to his Puzzle. His grandfather had said there was one, and Yugi had felt something when he had held his Grandpa's Blue Eyes White Dragon, so he certainly believed him, but he just didn't feel that same connection with many of his own cards, Summoned Skull was kinda scary, but he felt he could trust it, just as he felt that Gaia the Fierce Knight, Celtic Guardian and Mystical Elf were all cards he could trust.

From the end of the bed, the Millennium Puzzle glinted in the lamp light, and Yugi's attention was drawn to it for a moment, then his mobile rang, the urgent bleeping sound that managed to wake him up in the mornings, or get his attention even when he was in the shower, distracted him and causing him to sigh and pick it up before his mum could complain, cradling it between his ear and shoulder as he shuffled the deck, and put it back in its deck box, "Hello? Oh hi Sakura…"

* * *

Yugi reached Penguin Park in time to see Sakura swoop past on The FLY, chasing a green lizard like thing that sort of resembled a chameleon. "Hi Yugi!" She called, spotting him as she swept past.

Yugi however, was in the passenger seat again, watching as 'he' threw a gold net of magic over the chameleon and pounced on it, followed by Kero…

Then there was a green flash and suddenly it **was** him clinging onto the chameleon, and Sakura was calling for the card to return to its true form.

"Yugi?"

"Kero?"

Tea rushed to his side, as Sakura raced to Kero's and picked up the tiny bear.

"Yugi, are you alright?" Tea was worried, as Yugi struggled to think straight, one at a time had been hard enough, but something had happened and he wasn't sure what it… he just knew that there was two of them in his head.

'_What the?'_

"Who's there?" Yugi demanded, hand on his forehead and wondering how someone was talking to him inside his head.

"Yugi?" Now Tomoyo had rushed over, shutting her camera off as she did so.

'_You don't have to shout, Yugi.'_

"Kero?!" Yugi yelped.

'_You got that right, that was the Change card… wait, if you're in here and I'm in here… who's…'_ Yugi lost control of his body and unlike when he was made a passenger, the exchange wasn't gentle, causing him to sit there rather stunned while Kero demanded "Who are you?" of the bear, his voice issuing from Yugi's mouth.

"Yugi, that's Kero, remember?"

'Yugi' shook his head, "I'm Kero. The card Sakura caught was The CHANGE, it should have swapped me with Yugi, but Yugi's still in here, so I ask again, who are you?" He demanded of the bear.

"I… don't know." The bear answered, confused.

"What do you mean you don't know?"

"Kero, give him a break, he's confused." Sakura scolded.

"Sakura…" Kero growled, black eye glinting, then there was nothing for a moment, and purple replaced black, "Pharaoh?" Yugi asked, kneeling down and taking the confused bear into his own hands.

"I was once called that…" The bear nodded.

"I knew it." Yugi smiled slightly at having his thoughts confirmed, "You've been stuck in the Puzzle, haven't you?" He asked sadly as the smile died.

The bear nodded.

"Can you remember anything?"

"Not much." The Pharaoh admitted, wings flapping, causing him to start hovering as Yugi had to deal with Kero in his head again. "I'm sorry."

"_Kero, be quiet, please."_ Yugi asked, before speaking to the bear again, "I'm sorry I don't have much information to give you…"

"No, forgive me, Light one, for being unable to answer your questions."

"Of course, it's not your fault." Yugi nodded, then paused, "Light one?"

"You're the Light," Yami said with a low bow.

"I'm The LIGHT?" Yugi asked confused.

Yami shook his head, "Not 'The LIGHT'. The Light, the Sun… Hikari…" Yami touched Yugi's arm and drew away, "In the dark for so long… and then light… you freed me…"

"My name is Yugi." Yugi introduced himself with a smile, "What may I call you?"

"I've had lots of names." Pharaoh said, gaining confidence, "I've been known as Pharaoh, Yugioh, there are some who called me Yami."

"It's an honour to meet you, Yami." Yugi gave a half bow back.

"The honour is mine."

"Yami." Sakura said, smiling at him, "My name is Sakura. I wanted to thank you for helping us with the Clow Cards."

"I wanted to do something to repay hika… Yugi…" Yami corrected himself, "It is pleasure to meet a friend of Yugi's and a wielder of Star Magic," Yami bowed again, "You're very powerful, for one so young."

"You're pretty powerful yourself." Sakura replied, wondering about Star magic, it explained why she'd had trouble before Yugi had gotten his Shadows under control.

"Not as much as I could be…" Yami said sadly, "But…" He shook his head, "It does not matter." He looked at Yugi, "Are you alright?"

"It feels weird, having someone awake in the back of my mind." Yugi said, trying to focus on the bear in his mind and the bear in front of him. "I should let Kero come out, but how do I do it? We've only ever swapped over if there was danger before, and then I slept through most of it…"

Tomoyo edged forward, turning off her camcorder, "Yami?"

"Yes?"

"I'm Tomoyo." She bowed to him.

"I'm Tea." Tea inserted before anyone could say anything, though she looked a little confused.

"I am honoured," Yami bowed again. "To make your acquaintance."

_Darkness, that's what Yami means…_ Tea wondered, as Yami explained to Yugi how to swap with Kero and a rather indignant Guardian of the Clow explained exactly what had happened, including that he didn't really want to have to share a mind with Yugi for the rest of Yugi's natural life.

Then he had to backtrack when Yami glared at him, with, "Not that there's anything wrong with Yugi's mind, he's smarter then he lets people think, but I don't want to be in here when he'd old and wrinkly."

Then he had to deal with Yugi's mental laughter and Yami's growling and he hid behind Sakura to avoid the death glare.

"Wait… what was that about being stuck this way?" Tea asked.

"We only have twenty four hours after the CHANGE has been used, or we'll be stuck like this forever!" Kero complained from his safe place behind Sakura.

"Can't we use it now?"

"No, it's a once a day only card, we'd have to wait until tomorrow, but we can't wait till too late tomorrow or…"

"Stop panicking." Tea poked Kero-in-Yugi, "We can fix this."

"I know, I know." Kero sounded irritated.

"It's Yugi who should be irritated, at least Yami gets his own body for a night, Yugi's got to share with you." Sakura teased.

"Sakura, can I take Yami home with me, please?" Yugi asked, having been allowed control again by the aggravated guardian.

Yami looked up at the Cardcaptor, tinges of red tinting the black eyes of Kero's bear form and making Sakura's mind up for her.

"I think you should sleep over at mine tonight." Sakura said, "After all, you do have Kero in your head, and Dad's staying at the University and Toya's working all night…"

"They'd never let you have a boy sleep over if there wasn't anyone else in." Tea pointed out.

"What about staying at mine?" Yugi asked, "Mum'll be home late, but she always brings good take away and we have the spare room so…"

"I don't see why not…" Sakura nodded, "But I'd better tell Dad first."

The phone call took about ten minutes and if Yugi hadn't met Sakura's father before, it wouldn't have been so easy to convince him but soon it was Yugi's turn to phone his parent, taking out his phone and calling his mum to tell her about the change of plans and he was sorry and yes, he would go home and set up the spare room, and yes, Sakura would like that particular type of take away and yes, he'd make sure he did all of his homework… see you later, love you too, bye…

Yugi grinned as he got off the phone, "A little more warning was requested for next time, but other then that she's fine with it." There was a pause for a moment and then, "But I can't believe I'm going to spend the night with the crazy cat."

Sakura did a double take, knowing how much Yugi loved that cat, and gazing at the boy until she realised that it was Kero talking and not Yugi.

"It's not a crazy cat." Yami scowled from his perch on Yugi's shoulder.

"Weren't cats sacred in Egypt?" Tea asked the Pharaoh-Bear who looked incredibly ashamed.

"I… don't remember."

"What?"

"I… don't want to talk about it."

"Yami?"

"I don't remember anything before hikari, except that it was cold, and dark." Yami said slowly, not wanting to lie to the ten year olds, but not wanting to scare them either, "I only have remnants of memories; I don't even know what's going on half the time."

Yugi ripped control away from Kero. "I don't care if you don't remember; you've helped us out so much, and if I can ever help you in anyway…"

"No, Hikari, I…"

"I have Kero, Yugi has you." Sakura said, as if that settled the conversation.

"Guardians!" Tea giggled. "At least you don't eat like Kero."

Yami snorted, "Even if I had that sort of appetite, I couldn't eat that much without causing Yugi to gain a lot of weight."

Laughter followed that statement, making the Pharaoh-In-A-Bear relax slightly.

"Come on, let's go feed the cat."

* * *

"So what do you remember?" Yugi asked, once they'd fed Aiko, who'd tried pouncing on the Pharaoh-Bear, missed, and decided that this was a fun new game and that she was going to play until she finally caught him, pinning the winged teddy down and mewing at him until Yugi came and rescued him.

Of course, this wasn't as easy as it sounded when you had a manically laughing Guardian of the Clow in your head as well as trying to juggle the cat food bowl and carrying the squirming cat who was trying to get at the cat food bowl…

But now they were slumped in the living room, the spare room was all set up to accommodate Sakura and they were interested in what Yami had to say.

"I don't remember much, just enough to keep my magic in check." Yami admitted, head down, tone self-derogatory, "I'm sorry to say that I'm not always certain that I can do something until I do it."

"I figured something like that was happening." Kero said, through Yugi, "Though I thought it was Yugi using the spontaneous magic, not a spirit."

"It was a little of both," Yami said, "Me to start with, when we fought FLY and CLOUD, but once Yugi got a basic grasp on Mediation, I think it was a little of both." Yami shook his head, unsure.

"I think FLY was more you reacting to a threat then really thinking about what you was doing." Yugi said, thinking, "You'd just woken up after all."

Yami considered this for a moment and then look at Yugi, "Once I'm strong enough, I'll teach you how to use our magic, I know enough to start you down the right path until I can remember some more."

"All right." Yugi nodded, looking excited, but a little nervous.

"So you have no idea why you were in the Puzzle?" Kero asked, trying to find out something, anything. Not that this 'Yami' hadn't helped them in the past, but he found it difficult to trust a mage as powerful as Yami when he'd been sealed in such a way, for so long.

"None." Yami said, shaking his head, "I'm sorry."

"Kero." Sakura hissed, noting Yami's mood. "It's ok, honest." She said, trying not to feel so nervous around the spirit, it wasn't that she didn't trust him; she just wasn't fond of ghosts. "You'll get there, you've been asleep a very long time, and you're not really awake yet. You'll get there."

"Thank you for your reassurance."

"Yugi?" Kero swapped back out again and plush toy Pharaoh collapsed in a heap, as the front door opened, "Kinomoto-San?"

"Mum's home."

* * *

"Hikari?"

Yugi jumped as a small bear floated up to the window sill he had been leant on, having completely missed Yami having moved, from the bed.

"Sorry."

"No, it's not your fault, Yami." Yugi hastily reassured him, "I was just lost in my own little world." Yami smiled slightly and sat down as Yugi continued, "I guess I'm just not used to living somewhere else yet. This house doesn't quite feel like home yet, I'm getting there, but for ten years I looked out the window and saw roofs and skyscrapers. Now I look out the window and its houses and gardens and the tallest thing is the clock towers, over there, see it?" Yugi pointed it out and Yami looked, "And now I feel really guilty. I'm complaining about moving two hours down the tracks, and you're miles from home and thousands of years ahead of yourself."

"Don't." Yami advised, watching a big black cat pass the window and maow at them before carrying on down the road, "I don't remember my home enough to feel homesick, and I don't mind listening to anything you want to tell me. It feels good to be awake enough to have a proper conversation with you."

"I wanna know something…" Yugi said, biting his lower lip, "Why me? I'm no one special, why choose me to complete the Puzzle?"

"I don't know why you were chosen, hikari," Yami said, watching the moon, which was heading towards becoming full, "But I'm glad you were, you're brave and powerful, in another time you could have had my job."

"You joke, surely. Me? Pharaoh? Look at me, I'm weedy." Yugi indicated himself. "I was bullied before I made friends with Tea, Sakura and Tomoyo!"

"I don't know how I know, but between your magic and your heart, you would have made a good king."

"Huh…" Yugi sounded thoughtful and silence fell for a few moments, before, "I was thinking about entering the Magic and Wizards Tournament that Grandpa mentioned before we got in the limo, what do you think about it?"

"It's up to you, isn't it?" Yami asked.

"You're the one that's stuck going wherever I go, I just wondered if you'd be interested." Yugi was kind of looking forward to it, even if the whole day would just be battles using bits of card, rather then their magic.

"I would be, but do not compete for my sake, if you're unhappy about it."

"I dunno, I wanna play, but I don't know if I'm good enough to compete at a competitive level yet, my deck's not as powerful as Grandpa's."

"You have time to buy more cards." Yami pointed out. "And your monsters are all willing to fight for you, no matter what."

"You can tell that?" Yugi frowned, remembering he'd been playing with his deck since their trip to Domino.

Yami nodded, "The Shadows are linked to Duel Monsters somehow, but I'm afraid I don't know how right now." Yami smiled slightly, "I can show you how to summon monsters when I get stronger."

"Cool!" Yugi grinned, "That sounds great."

Yami chuckled. "At least I have something to offer you."

"Yami…" Yugi looked away from the sky and down at the bear who had turned to look at him at the tone in his voice, "Don't think like that, I want you as a friend, not a servant or someone who thinks they're 'not worthy'."

"But…"

"No, Yami, from here on in, we're friends, right?" Yugi asked, "Partners. Don't be afraid to ask me about or to help you with anything. As long as you give me warning and be careful with your magic until you have a better idea of what you can do, I don't mind allowing you the use of my body."

"In exchange, I'll protect your friends, help Sakura and teach you how to control your magic." Yami nodded.

"Partners then?"

"Partners."

Yugi grinned, hugged the bear and sat down on his bed.

"What does the Sun Guardian think of this?" Yami asked.

"Kero's asleep." Yugi said, Yami gave him a concerned look, "I figure he must be, I recognise this feeling, it's the same sort of feeling I've had since I freed you, except this one's burning brightly, a little too hot, instead of the comforting darkness that I'm assuming is you."

Yami nodded. "It's only natural that with all your light, having anymore in your mind would be uncomfortable."

"Where as you balance me out, right?" Yugi asked.

"I guess."

Yugi laughed quietly, trying not to wake Sakura or his mother, "Light and Dark make Shadows. Perhaps we were destined to meet."

"Perhaps." Yami acknowledged as Yugi got into bed, "Sleep well, hikari."

"Good night, Yami."

* * *

"Are you ready?" Sakura asked, activating her staff.

Yugi switched with Kero, and Tomoyo tried not to giggle at how it looked as Yugi-Kero hugged Kero-Yami, as per the change back conditions. Somewhere between cute and awww, I want to cuddle it, and as Sakura cast the CHANGE spell, she could see the difference in Yugi.

How could they have not noticed it before now?

Yami Yugi was so different from Yugi if you looked properly… taller for one, and the eye colour change, as well as the slight deference to Yugi's friends and the much more confident way Yami held himself to Yugi. Memories gone or not, he still held himself tall and proud… as if he was still a king?

Yami looked down at Kero, who was scolding the Pharaoh for not eating enough and could they go get cake now?

Sakura watched as the exchange happened, Yami stood up and Yugi was standing at the end of it. "Feel any better?"

"A little." Yugi nodded, having been feeling weird all the way through school, "I'm sorry for not telling you guys sooner."

Sakura laughed, "I've given up trying to work out what's normal anymore." She grinned, "Though to be fair, I think this tops it."

"We've got a long way to go yet." Kero warned.

"We'll get there, there can't be anything that much weirder then the fact Yugi's possessed, right?" Tea asked hopefully.

"Well…" Kero said seriously. "I suppose there isn't anything much weirder…"

"Don't jinx it!" Yugi yelped.

"We'll just have to see what's around the corner." Tomoyo giggled, "Meanwhile, I've gotten some awesome footage."

"Is that all you think about?"

"No…"

"She thinks about costumes too!" Tea laughed.

"Hey!" Tomoyo protested as the others laughed.

'_She has a point, I don't think I've been in the same costume twice yet.'_

"Yami?"

The girls paused and Kero gave him an inquisitive look, "Does Yami have something to add to the conversation?"

"Yami thinks that Tea has a point." Yugi said, "So, you can talk to me now?"

'_I'm not sure what the CHANGE did, but it seems like it, yes.'_

"Cool." Yugi grinned, then he saw the look on the other's faces.

"This is going to take some getting used to." Tea frowned.

"It's alright Yugi; it's just that we only get half of the conversation." Tomoyo laughed, waving it off.

Sakura giggled, "We'll get used to it. We got used to everything else."

"Thanks guys." Yugi gave them all a relieved look.

"And now we have that sorted," Kero said, hovering in mid air and looking aggrieved, "Can we please go and eat?"

"I'm all out of cake." Yugi warned, "You ate it all last night."

"I think my cook made some." Tomoyo mused.

"Yeay!" Kero cheered, making Sakura and Yugi look at each other with half amused, half exasperated looks. "To Tomoyo's!"

* * *

**Author Note: -** So, The CHANGE among other cards, all in this chapter, and hiya to Yami, and I'm finally getting over that writer's block. : ) It's all good **so far** this week. : )


	6. Field Trip

To find Yugi was early for class wasn't a surprise. It had been his turn on the cleaning rosta after all, and he was anything but lazy.

Finding him leant over his desk, covering his head with his arms and with eyes closed tightly, was surprising though.

"Yugi?" Tea asked, putting a hand on his shoulder as she finally caught up with the boy, who had missed last night's capture of The FLOAT and hadn't been answering his phone this morning.

"Tea?" Yugi sat up a little too quickly, blinking at her, and he groaned and closed his eyes again.

"What's wrong?" Tea asked, concerned.

"Headache." Yugi tried not to complain, "Pretty much constant since last night."

"When we switched Yami and Kero back?"

"A couple of hours after that." Yugi nodded, "Its worse whenever we talk to each other mind to mind."

"You two can do that?" She asked, sitting on the chair of the desk in front of Yugi's.

"We can sense how each other are feeling too." Yugi smiled, though it was strained and made Tea worry, "It would be great if we didn't have this headache, and if Yami could sleep."

"What do you mean?"

Yugi paused as the door slid open, tensing up, until he realised that it was Sakura and Tomoyo, then relaxed again and sighed, "Yami was sleeping before CHANGE switched him with Kero, and now he's awake and can't get back to sleep." Yugi sighed, "I've only had the headaches since he's been awake, but he was waking up slowly on his… YAMI!" Yugi yelped, curling in on himself slightly, arms protecting his head. "Get out here if you want to talk to the girls, it hurts too much to pass messages on!"

There was a momentary pause and then it was pained ruby looking at them instead of pained amethyst. "I apologise for last night, we would have come out to help you, but Yugi's mother caught on that something was wrong, made us go to bed and proceeded to check on us every five minutes."

"It's okay." Sakura nodded, worried, "Have you been able to sleep at all since CHANGE kept you awake?"

"I've dozed." Yami frowned, "But nothing more. I don't want to hurt Yugi…"

"It's not your fault," Tomoyo reassured him hastily, "We'll just have to work out what's wrong."

"Shame we don't have The SLEEP." Kero, who had started coming to school with Sakura everyday, after The LIBRA had been captured here, "I bet that it could put you out like a light."

"Quite possibly." Yami nodded then switched quickly with Yugi, causing Kero to duck inside Sakura's bag as Yugi removed the Puzzle and their class mates filed in...

* * *

"Sounds like fatigue to me. Clow used to get it all the time if he pushed himself too far." Kero said, leaning against Sakura's leg, "And if you weren't a spirit, I'd say to find a Doctor, because it sounds pretty severe to me."

Yami, who had temporarily taken over Yugi's body to talk with Kero, frowned and started on Yugi's desert, before asking, "What do you suggest?"

"SLEEP was created for when Clow needed to sleep but was 'too busy' to waste the time." Kero shrugged, "Other then that, I don't know."

Yami switched with Yugi, who seemed to follow something with his eyes before getting up. "Excuse me." He sighed, before walking over to the tree, where he couldn't be seen by the majority of pupils, to have a conversation with someone they couldn't see and which most certainly wasn't good for Yugi if the way he kept cringing was anything to go by.

"I can't believe that CHANGE made this much of a difference." Kero scowled, as Yugi got into a kind of row with what looked like fresh air to the others, but to Kero's vision looked like Yami, as a spirit, getting rather concerned and rather irritable, while Yugi tried to reason with him. "Yugi said he was waking up on his own…"

"No one likes being kept awake longer then twenty four hours." Tea pointed out, "It's not good for you."

"No one forced Yami to stay awake."

"I think CHANGE did something when he put Yami back." Kero said, thinking, "CHANGE was never meant to be used on possessed people, so he wouldn't have known how to handle the situation."

He watched as Yami faded away. Yugi threw his hands up in exasperation and rejoined them.

"Yugi, you're flaring again." Kero warned, sensing the Shadows roiling around the boy. Maybe flaring was the wrong word, but it certainly caught Yugi's attention, forcing the kid to take a deep breath and calm down.

"Sorry." Yugi directed as Kero and Sakura, one of whom shrugged and the other gave him a worried smile.

"Are you still coming to the Aquarium tomorrow on the field trip?" Tomoyo asked him as he slowly finished his lunch.

"Wouldn't miss it." Yugi grinned, "I've never been to one before so…"

"You've never…" Tomoyo looked shocked. "Well there's the…"

* * *

"What exactly…?" Yugi asked, at the Aquarium on their field trip, Wednesday morning, looking at the invite he was holding as the fish swam past them in their huge, glass tank.

"My Mum's the CEO of a big electronics company and she's holding a big party and inviting over a bunch of business men." Tomoyo answered with a sigh, "I normally just invite Sakura and we hide upstairs, but I actually have to make an appearance this time for some reason, and I was kind of hoping, since you're my friend and the heir to a retail outlet…"

"It's one shop." Yugi pointed out.

"I know but please? These things are always really boring and…" Tomoyo pleaded, "Please, I promise you won't have to wear any costumes for a week! I'll even promise to behave during the tournament next weekend!"

"Fine, I'll come, if Tea's allowed to come too."

"Sure." Tomoyo nodded, giving Tea a pleading look.

"I can be Yugi's plus 1." Tea grinned, crushing Yugi's hopes that Tea wouldn't be interested and he could get out of it, "When is it?"

"Saturday Evening."

"I don't have anything to…"

"I have costumes that would be formal enough without looking too ornate."

"When did you…?"

Tomoyo giggled, "I didn't plan for this at all… nope."

The girls laughed, making Yugi sigh, especially considering he could sense Yami's amusement. "Fine, fine, I'll go."

"Thank you, thank you, thank you." Tomoyo grinned.

"How's…" Sakura looked at the Puzzle.

"Dozing, on and off." Yugi sighed, "It's why the headache's not so bad at the moment."

"You've got to do something about them, Yugi."

"I've got some paracetamol with me," Yugi replied, "But I had to hide that more carefully then I did the Puzzle."

"Well at least it's easier to carry." Sakura joked.

"Too true." Yugi laughed before looking over to the clock on the wall, "Aren't we going to be late to see the penguins?"

Sakura squeaked and grabbed Tomoyo's arm and pulled her through the crowds, causing the others to have to chase after them. Sakura had been going on about the penguin show all morning, so they'd been heading back towards the pool when Tomoyo had handed Yugi the invite.

They reached the pool, with its clear glass sides, in time to see the lady dive in to play with the penguins, watching entranced as they, in turn, played her games, with the hoops and the balls and all the other toys, and she was just climbing out when something happened.

It was Yugi that saw it first, the current that seemed determined to swirl around the woman's leg only, but Sakura spotted just a heartbeat later, when it started swirling around one of the penguins, trapping it in its embrace, and refusing to release it to the surface.

The woman, who was obviously a strong swimmer, managed to reach the surface, but that only increased the current's attempts to pull her under.

'_Clow Card.'_ Yami realised faster then any of the others could, which would have been great had it not caused Yugi's headache to flare up so badly that he missed who dived into the water and somehow broke the hold that the current had on both the penguin and the woman.

"Big brother?" He heard Sakura gasp.

"Yugi?" Tomoyo had one of his arms, and was giving him an incredibly concerned look.

Yugi pulled his friends away from the crowd, looking around before hissing, "Yami thinks that current was a Clow Card."

"What?"

"I'll try and find out where it went, you call Kero." Yami switched with Yugi.

"Just don't try and fight it alone." Sakura nodded.

"Alright." Yami shot off.

Sakura shook her head, amused at the Pharaoh's mood, which didn't seem to be getting much better the longer he was awake. Then she and the others found somewhere quiet to head and rang Kero.

* * *

"Muto!"

Yami paused, trying to remember what the name of Sakura's brother was…

"_Toya."_ Yugi piped up helpfully, before they were introduced to another crippling headache.

Yami groaned, raising a hand to his head and curling in on himself slightly.

"Easy." Toya helped him to a bench, "You alright?"

Talking mind to mind hadn't been so painful before…it had to be something CHANGE had done when it had put Yami back...

Yami blinked, looking at the older teen; who seemed to be watching him carefully. "I'm fine, thank you Kinomoto."

"Is it because of this?" Toya pointed to the Millennium Puzzle.

Yami froze, "What do you mean?"

"I know you're not Muto Yugi." Toya warned, "I can see spirits. I saw you at lunch time yesterday, as a spirit, hanging around with Muto and my sister. Who are you? Why are you possessing Muto? And is it you that's been causing his headache?"

Yami hesitated. He could sense Yugi's concern, but didn't really want to escape without explaining, not to someone as important as Toya, since he was Sakura's older brother and seemed to know a lot more then he was letting on.

He sent a feeling of reassurance across to his partner and sighed, "I'm Yami, I was a Pharaoh back in Egypt, as far as we are aware, I seem to have become Yugi's guardian and no, I'm not causing the headaches. I'm of the opinion that a spell we ran into on Sunday is the cause for our current condition."

"Explain." There wasn't venom in Toya's voice, but there wasn't curiosity either. His voice was guarded and his body language screamed protectiveness. Yami understood. Toya was worried about Sakura.

"I've been asleep a very long time." Yami started, "But since Yugi completed the Puzzle, I've been slowly waking up. However a couple of days ago we ran into a spell that, for a lack of a better description, poured a bucket of ice water over me." Yami sighed, "I've been unable to do more then lightly doze since, while Yugi hasn't needed me of course, and it's while I'm dozing that the headaches fade."

Toya considered this, "Why were you in the Puzzle?"

"We don't know." Yami shook his head, "A lot of my memories have been lost since I was in Egypt and I know very little other then what Yugi has told me, and that I have to protect my hikari."

"Your light? That would be Muto Yugi, right?"

"That's correct."

"May I speak with him?"

Yami would have scowled, they had more important things to do, like finding out where WATERY had gotten to, but he nodded and Yugi, nervously, took control. "Yami's a good guy, and it was alright before."

"Before?"

"Before Yami was forced out of my body for a while. It woke him up, but everything's be so difficult since." Yugi frowned, "Me and Yami switched whenever we needed to before without any trouble, sure it felt a little odd being in the passenger seat but nothing like this."

"Muto, are you alright?"

"I was before the headaches started." Yugi sighed, "Sure, I was worried, but Yami's never done anything to hurt me or my friends, and he's protected us before, but I have the odd feeling that he's not supposed to be awake yet."

"How long was he sleeping for?"

"Five thousand years… possibly."

"And this spell forced him out of your body and woke him up?"

"That's right?"

"How aware was he before that?"

"I couldn't really sense him properly before, there was just this comforting darkness at the back of my mind, Yami says that I'm pure light, so I figure we've been brought together because he's darkness and I'm light, so we balance each other out." Yugi paused, his shoulders sinking, "I'm the only one the Puzzle will work for, and Yami couldn't talk to the girls without being in control or me passing on the message."

"What about the headaches?" Toya asked, considering the possibility of the pair being like the In-Yo, one representing nature, the earth and physicality, and the other the cosmos, heaven and spirituality, then discarded it, deciding that if Muto's theory was right, they were more like the Chinese yin and yang then anything.

"They're manageable as long as we don't talk mind to mind." Yugi looked towards the tanks, frowning as a group of fish were swept along by a water current, "Now it's playing with us…" Yami growled, having taken over when the current had done, what would be considered a back flip, if it had been a human, and was now passing back and forth in front of them.

"What is?"

"You remember that whirlpool in the penguin enclosure earlier?"

"That spell that was running around?"

"You know more then you're letting on, don't you?"

"When your kid sister sneaks out at night to meet up with her friends, you learn quickly."

"So you know about the Clow Cards?" Yami asked, smiling slightly, though Toya guessed that it was Yugi's amusement he was expressing.

"Of them, not about them."

"Well the spell that's on the loose is one, The WATERY, and we could really use a way of capturing it without endangering anyone else."

"I work late shifts here. You tell me what's going on, and I'll leave the back door open for you lot tonight."

Yami stared at him, "You're serious?"

"Sakura has to capture them, I know that much." Toya scowled at him. "But you have to promise to protect her."

"I promise." It was an easy promise to make, considering he'd promised Yugi much the same thing only two nights ago, "What do you want to know?"

* * *

"So what do you think?" Yugi asked Kero as Yami, in spirit form, leant against the counter, watching the group make hot cakes as a snack while Toya was still at work and Mr Kinomoto was at the university he taught at, giving tutorials.

"It's got to be The WATERY." Kero frowned, "But if it is, we have a problem."

"Why?" Tomoyo asked, looking up from her camera, where she'd made the interesting discovery that Yami appeared on film, even if she couldn't see him with her own eyes, and he looked almost exactly like Yugi, bar around a head in height, some highlights and the eye colour.

"The Clow Cards have four element cards, who all belong to the top tier of the Clow Cards, which makes them very difficult to control." Kero explained, "WINDY, WATERY, EARTHY and FIREY."

"So WATERY is a lot more powerful then anything we've face so far?" Yugi guessed.

"Not only that, but WATERY is an offensive card, not a defensive one, so it has quite a temper." Kero nodded, "The cards we have now, don't match up to it."

"But WINDY is a top tier card too…" Tea frowned.

"But it's a defensive card, so it's too kind and gentle to fight with the sort of ferocity that we'd need against WATERY."

Yami went to say something, paused and took over before starting again, "Then we try something else."

"We can't. Your magic's not reliable at the moment and neither Tea or Tomoyo have another type of magic." Kero scowled at him.

"What about the chillers?" Yugi asked, taking control again.

"Huh?"

"Well, they have to keep the fish fresh somewhere, don't they?" Yugi asked, "There's bound to be freezers somewhere in the basement."

"Freezers?" Kero asked, sounding disgusted.

"No, it could work." Sakura shook her head as Yugi's shoulders sank. "We'd just have lure it down there."

"WATERY would give pursuit if you challenged it." Kero frowned, "But it would be dangerous."

"I think we should go back tonight." Yugi said, "Before it can hurt anyone else."

"Are you sure you're up to it?" Kero asked him, as the girls dished out the first few hot cakes.

"We'll be fine," Yugi nodded, "After all, what could go wrong?"

* * *

"I can't believe we're really doing this." Tea complained as they snuck in the back door of the aquarium, so as to avoid the guards.

"No one said you had to come." Tomoyo pointed out, videoing the two in front.

The chain on the Puzzle was silver tonight, to go with the black and blue outfits that Sakura and Yugi were wearing, and Yugi paused at the t-junction, switched with Yami and headed towards the tanks.

"Okay, so… question?" Tea asked as they settled around the tube of water that led down to the restaurant, "How are we going to get WATERY out of there?"

"That's easy, if a magician challenges it, it'll take the bait." Kero sighed, "But we don't have a card that can match it."

"We have a plan, remember Kero?" Sakura laughed, "Tomoyo, Tea?"

The two nodded and rushed off, leaving the pair to wait for a phone call.

"We're crazy, you know that right?" Sakura laughed quietly.

Yami just gave her an amused smile and a shrug, leaning over the tank. "The water's so still, are you sure WATERY is still here?"

"It's here." Kero growled, "I can sense it, can't you?"

"All I can sense is starlight, darkness and sunlight." Yami snorted, turning to look at them and indicating Sakura's staff and Kero, "The Clow Cards seem to slip below my radar entirely."

"Too close to your own magic I expect." Kero sighed, "We've had this conversation before, I just thought you might have sensed something now that you're fully awake."

"No such…" Yami wheeled around as he heard the water rushing upwards, "Sakura!"

The Cardcaptor rushed forward but the water revolved around them, and swept back into the tank as a tidal wave, sweeping all of them into the water.

Yami panicked as the water closed in overhead. He had no idea how to swim and they were getting deeper by the second.

"_Yami, let me take over!"_ Yugi yelped, as the headache to flared up, taking over and trying to swim for the surface.

Something swam around his ankle, dragging him further down. Sakura was in much the same boat that he was, and Kero couldn't break the swirling vortex that seemed to have her trapped.

Yugi couldn't hold his breath much longer, he was holding his hand over his mouth and nose as it was…

Yami seized control again, being able to swim wasn't going to help them now… he cast something, Yugi wasn't sure what, and The WATERY let go of the pair.

Sakura gave him a frightened glance, before swimming upwards, towards the surface. Yami would have switched with Yugi and they would have joined her, but there was nothing they could do as WATERY swirled around their legs, angered at losing one of it's prey.

Yugi's body betrayed them, gasping for breath, taking water into their lungs.

The last thing Yami did was use all the magic that he could gather to cast a spell that was basically along the lines of 'get me out of here', unsure how it would work, but so desperate that he didn't care.

Then darkness claimed them.

The glass shattered, the water rushed out, taking over the entire ground and first floors of the underground restaurant, dragging Yugi down with it.

Sakura only just avoided being dragged down, though it was more luck then judgement, as Yami's spell, which had pushed on the glass until it had broken, had also pushed her out of the water.

"Sakura!" Sakura froze. "Sakura!"

She looked over her shoulder, "Big brother?" She gasped.

"Where's Muto?" Toya demanded.

Sakura didn't stop to answer, "Sorry big brother." Sakura activated FLY and swooped down the hole that had once led to the tube of water. "Yugi! Yugi!" She called desperately as she overflew the flooded restaurant.

She couldn't see him…

Before she knew what was happening, Toya had passed her, diving into the water.

Her phone rang and she picked it up, not sparing a moment to wonder how it was still working… "Tomoyo?"

"Found them. They're on basement floor one. Be careful…"

Sakura put the phone down. There was still no sign of Yugi, and now she couldn't see her brother either.

"Their best chance is if you lure The WATERY away." Kero growled to her.

"But…"

"Toya can handle himself." Kero said firmly, "He'll be fine."

"WATERY! It's me you want!" Sakura called, as Kero grabbed onto her costume, "Come and get me."

For a moment there was nothing, and then a girl who was comprised completely of water shot up and smirked at her.

WATERY… what had it done?

She flew upward and WATERY followed, shooting out of the hole in the ceiling and towards the stairs, passing Tea, who gave her a smile and pointed down a door, which Sakura swooped down, reaching the basement and reaching the freezers, working out why it was so cold down here when she saw that Tomoyo had already opened the freezer door for her.

"WINDY!" She cried, summoning the card and using it to keep WATERY going until it was inside the freezer before slamming the door shut.

"Well done Sakura!" Tomoyo grinned.

Tea reached them, looking around, "Did you catch it?"

"It's in the freezer now." Tomoyo nodded, as Sakura sent Kero back the way they'd come, worried.

Tea frowned. "What's wrong?"

It was Tomoyo who caught on first, "Sakura… where's Yugi?"

* * *

He didn't know why that water spirit had left, or why it had been so determined to make sure that no one escaped, but Toya only surfaced long enough to gasp for breath, before diving again.

Reaching the side of the child, Toya would have growled had he not been so far underwater. Yugi was motionless and cold.

_Sakura will never forgive herself if he dies…_

He clutched the small boy and swam for the surface, pulling him up onto the balcony of the second floor, before checking his breath.

Nothing.

"Come on Muto…" Toya growled, trying to find a pulse.

It was there, but very weak…

He wrapped his arms around Yugi's chest, just below the rib cage and jerked upwards, once… twice… thrice…

Yugi convulsed, turning to his side as he expelled water from his lungs on his own. Toya backed off as Yugi gasped for breath, rubbing his back to help him expel more water.

Once Yugi was finally breathing clearly again, bleary, unfocused ruby eyes turned towards him. "Kinomoto-San?" Yami asked weakly, confused.

"Easy Yami." Toya murmured, supporting the kid, wondering just how Yami was managing to stay conscious, "You nearly drowned."

"Sa…Sakura?" Yami panted, not to be distracted.

Toya looked up the way Sakura had gone, chased by the water sprite. "She's fine." Toya reassured the spirit possessing Yugi, though he wasn't sure what was going on.

"Good." With that Yami blacked out.

Toya looked around and shook his head, wondering what, exactly he was going to do about all the water… were all the Clow Cards this destructive?

"Come on Muto." He picked Yugi up carefully, "Let's go find the others."

* * *

The rain outside wasn't natural, it was the doing of The RAIN and The CLOUD, whose powers Sakura had utilised to drain most of the water from the restaurant at the aquarium.

Sakura was frightened.

They were in the A&E of Tomoeda Central Hospital, where Toya was talking to Yugi's mum.

Tomoyo's bodyguards had taken Tea and Tomoyo home in the car, which left her and her older brother to wait for any news.

Toya was covering for them, telling Yugi's mum that Yugi had lost something in the Aquarium and they'd gone back to find it. She doubted that Ms Muto would believe him though; she didn't seem to be the type to be taken in by lies…

She shivered, hugging Kero tightly. She was still in the wet costume, and hadn't had time to change it…

"Kinomoto?" Yugi's mum sat down in the chair next to her and offered Sakura her jacket, "Here."

"I'm sorry." Sakura murmured, not looking at her.

"It's okay." Muto Kaiya replied, draping her jacket around Sakura's shoulders, "I know you didn't expect Yugi to get hurt. He's fine though, the Doctors said they just want to keep him in for observation for a few days."

"But he…"

"Yugi wasn't very happy before we moved here." Kaiya said, looking at Sakura, "he was picked on a lot and didn't have many friends. I'm glad he's found some that are willing to help him. Your brother saved his life…" Ms Muto paused, "You will stay friends with Yugi, won't you?"

"Of course… if he still wants to be…"

"He will." Kaiya promised, "Yugi isn't likely to give up his friends because of an accident."

"Sakura, we have to go, if Dad finds out you snuck out…"

Sakura went to hand the jacket back. Yugi's Mum shook her head, "Take it with you, it suits you better then it suits me."

"Thank you."

"You're welcome."

"Sakura…"

"Good night Mrs Muto."

"Goodnight Kinomoto."

* * *

They were halfway home before Toya spoke.

"That was incredibly dangerous." Toya sounded angrier then she'd heard him in a long time, "If I hadn't been there Yugi would have died."

"Big brother."

"Don't big brother me, how long?"

"Since the start of April."

"And you've been fighting these Clow Cards with Yugi's help the whole time?"

"Yes."

"Is it just the five of you?" Toya asked, "Four children and a ghost?"

"And Kero."

"The stuffed toy."

"I'm no stuffed toy!" Kero protested quietly, "I'm the guardian of the Clow Cards."

"Which are currently on the loose." Toya reminded him.

I know." Kero's wings sank.

"Just… tell me when you're going after a Clow Card. I won't always be around to protect you." Toya sighed, "Please?"

"I promise."

"Now, what cards have you captured so far?"

* * *

Yugi opened his eyes.

A white ceiling… tiled…

He sat up slowly, trying to ignore the pain just below his ribs, and looked around. The sun was streaming through the window, and in the beds around him, people were already awake and talking to their guests.

Yugi had never felt so tired in his life, but he stretched and tried to figure out what had happened.

It looked like a hospital…WATERY!

No Puzzle… no Yami either… that made sense, but who was looking after it for him?

"Muto Yugi, you're awake?" A nurse, who was helping a boy half his age, two beds down, asked, "Oh good, your mother will be pleased."

Yugi blanched and led back, wondering what Sakura had told his mother.

"How are you feeling?" The nurse asked, coming to his bed side.

"Really tired." Yugi admitted.

"How about your chest? Does it hurt at all?" The nurse asked.

"Here." Yugi indicated just below his ribs.

"Anywhere else at all?"

Yugi shook his head.

"You'll be fine." The nurse smiled at him, "I'll be back in a minute with some painkillers."

"Thank you." Yugi nodded. "Did I come in with a gold looking pyramid thing?"

"Your girlfriend brought it in this morning."

"I don't have a…"

The nurse laughed, "I'm only teasing you. Short brown hair, green eyes…"

"Sakura!" Yugi yelped, "Is she okay?"

"None the worse for your little late night adventure." The nurse smiled at his immediate interest. "She said she'd be in later, with her older brother. Apparently she has something to show you."

Yugi just nodded, wanting to do nothing more but go back to sleep.

"If you're tired, Muto-Kun, you should sleep. Your body went through a lot." The nurse looked concerned, "I'll wake you when I get back."

"Thank you."

"No problem."

* * *

It was Friday afternoon before Yugi was allowed out of the hospital, so it was the first day that the group really got to talk without anyone being able to overhear.

Of course Toya insisted on escorting his sister to the Muto household, and Kaiya was hovering around, checking and double checking that they had everything they needed, but once they were settled in, Sakura gazed at Yugi and bit her lip.

"I'm okay, Sakura, honestly." Yugi smiled, a little tired but feeling much better then he had on Thursday morning.

"It's my fault…"

"No it's not!" Yugi protested, "You didn't ask me to come."

"But…"

"How's Yami?" Kero asked, before there was another argument about this. Sakura had been trying to pull away from her friends since the incident and none of them were having any of it, sticking closer then ever.

"Asleep." Yugi shook his head, "At last."

"Probably used a lot of magic breaking that tube. He'll probably wake up on his own when he's ready." Toya said, speaking up from where he was sat in the corner. "How's the headache?"

"Gone."

"And is Yami sleeping as deeply as before?"

"No, Yami's responded, using emotions, to my queries, but I haven't poked him too much, I don't want to wake him up."

"So you're both really alright?" Sakura asked quietly.

"I'm ok, Yami's ok. We're both okay, thanks to you, Kinomoto." Yugi nodded to Toya, who waved him off.

Unsurprising considering that Yugi's mum had been thanking Toya enough for the both of them, there was now an open invitation to all of the Kinomotos to their house and Muto Kaiya had started referring to Toya as Toya-Kun. "I'm fine…" Yugi paused, "And Mum says I can still go to your party tomorrow." He said with a teasing groan that made Tomoyo smile.

"I am still invited, aren't I?" Tea asked, well aware that it was Yugi who had invited her to Tomoyo's party.

"Of course." Tomoyo nodded. "I brought over your costume, Yugi." She said, getting it out of the bag, blacks and golds, with a gold chain for the Puzzle, which Yugi swapped over quickly and easily, having done the change many times over the last month.

As irritating as the costumes could be sometimes, Tomoyo did have good taste in them… that reminded Yugi… "I'm sorry about the costume for WATERY." He apologised, "It got wreaked in the ambulance."

"I got the jacket back." Tomoyo shrugged concern in her body language but not in her voice. "I was more worried about you."

"I'll be running marathons again in no time."

"You never ran a marathon!" Tea protested.

"Nooo!" Yugi moaned, "My secret revealed, how will I ever get over it?"

"Behave, Yugi-Kun." Kaiya scolded her son as she entered the room, laden with bags and completely without warning, "Anyone for cakes?" She asked, "I just picked some up from the…" She paused as she saw the flying bear.

"This will be so much easier when we have The ERASE." Kero moaned.

"Do you like my new toy?" Sakura asked Ms Muto quickly, who was still staring at the bear, who was now landing on Sakura's bag. "It's called Kero."

"It was flying." Kaiya pointed out. "And talking."

"It's something my mother's company is testing." Tomoyo said quickly.

"Oh…" Kaiya frowned, remembering that the Daidoji family owned a huge electronics company. She wasn't quite sure how that tied into flying teddy bears, but she wasn't really sure she wanted to know. She had an odd feeling it was to do with why Yugi had been unable to wait until daylight to pick up his bag from the aquarium though. "How does it work?" She asked, putting the bags down and coming over to look, interested.

"Batteries." Sakura said hastily, causing Kero to give her a dodgy look.

"I see." Kaiya nodded, "May I?" She asked, indicating Kero.

Sakura looked hopefully at her brother, who just shrugged. "Sure?"

They watched with bated breath as Yugi's Mum examined the bear, poking and prodding until finally Kero was unable to take it any longer and squirmed out of her grip, "That hurts you know?" He scolded.

"I knew something wasn't right." Kaiya scowled, "Muto Yugi, what aren't you telling me?"

"Uh… Mum, this is Kero, Kero meet Muto Kaiya, my mother."

* * *

**Author Note: - Okay, so I ran out of puns based on the Clow Card of the chapter, well, that's half true, I had plenty but none that fit this chapter, so… anyway, it's been a bad week for them, hasn't it?**

**Wonder if tomorrow is going to be any better…**


	7. A Familiar GLOW

There was silence in the living room of the Muto Household as Muto Kaiya tried to absorb everything she had been told and the children looked at each other nervously.

It was a lot to take in and she found herself unable to decide how to react.

In front of her sat her son, who had completed the Millennium Puzzle and inherited the wisdom and the powers of darkness from it and apparently was now host to some ancient Pharaoh who was trapped inside the Puzzle but didn't know why, but he hadn't come out to explain himself because apparently he slept a lot when Yugi didn't need him and the last time someone had woken him up without a good reason, it had given Yugi a headache…

That explained the headache on Monday night and all of Tuesday…

To his left was Kinomoto Sakura, who she already knew from before tonight. However she hadn't known that Kinomoto was 'the Cardcaptor' who apparently had accidently released all the 'Clow cards' from their book and now had to capture them. Yugi and… Yami, she thought they had called the ghost possessing Yugi… had apparently been helping Sakura since day one.

Sakura had demonstrated her magic, using The FLOWER to create the bouquet that was now sat on the table between them.

On her shoulder sat Kerberos, or as the children called him, Kero, was Sakura's guardian and the guardian of the Clow Cards (and Kaiya had made her views on him sleeping for thirty years, allowing Sakura to open the book, very clear), as well as currently acting as Yugi's mentor in place of someone who actually knew how to control 'Shadow Magic' as they didn't know anyone who could teach Yugi properly and it was apparently dangerous for him not to have someone who could at least teach him the basics.

Daidoji Tomoyo was supposedly their costume designer and camera woman. She enjoyed filming their battles but had no magic of her own, so she designed the costumes that Yugi and Sakura went into battle in, in order to allow the pair to make a good impression on the Clow Cards.

Kero had tried to explain how you had to look like you deserved to be their master before the Clow Cards really accepted you but Kaiya had just accepted it as something that she wouldn't quite understand… at least for now.

And apparently Gardener Tea was the most normal of the group. She had no magic and her dream was to be a dancer, but other then that she seemed to be in on this whole mess only by dint of being Yugi's friend. She seemed to be the one that grounded the group when things got really weird…

This didn't help her decision.

Part of her had decided that she should never have brought Yugi here to Tomoeda. Then he would never have gotten caught up in Sakura's Clow Card problems and he wouldn't have nearly drowned…

But that didn't solve the problem of the Millennium Puzzle. Yugi had been working on that for four years already, it wouldn't have been much longer before he had solved it even if she had left Yugi with his Grandfather in Domino, and then he'd be a 'Shadow Mage' anyway and he wouldn't have Kero to teach him…

"Okaa-san…" Yugi started but trailed off and looked at the floor at the look his mother gave him. She wasn't sure whether to be pleased that her son would help his friends out, no matter what the situation, angry at him for keeping this a secret or afraid that he'd get in too far over his head and there wouldn't be someone to rescue him next time…

She was kind of feeling all three at once at the moment and she didn't really know what to say.

"Muto-Sama," Kero spoke up, landing on the table between the children and Yugi's mother, "Please do not be mad at Yugi. As you mentioned before, the Clow Cards being on the loose is my fault. If I had not been sleeping, Sakura would not have been drawn to the book of Clow and the Clow Cards would not have been released."

"I have a problem Kero-San." Kaiya admitted, "In that I'm not sure how to react to what I have been told. Half of me wants to take Yugi and move back to Domino," She tried not to react as the girls' eyes widened and turned to Yugi, whose head had sunk even lower at that statement, "However doing so would mean I would have to leave him with his Grandfather or give up work and remove Yugi from the only person we know who can train him to use his magic safely."

"There may be other mages like Yugi out there who would be able to teach him better then I could." Kero admitted, making Sakura look at her guardian askance, "However with the amount of power he has, I wouldn't recommend getting any old magician to teach him as Yugi's magic is new to him and he does have a lot of it. You would have to know that any magician that trains him is trustworthy and doesn't wish harm on your son in any way."

"What do you mean?"

"Yugi's powers are very old, so old that even my former master, Clow Reed, didn't know about them, and are incredibly powerful. I believe that when he's fully trained, Yugi will be one of the most powerful magicians of the current age. A lot of mages will see this as a threat, and want to stop him getting that strong." Kero sighed, "For the time being, he's safer with another mage, like Sakura, who is in training and knows him well, as opposed to finding another magician like him, who may see him as a threat."

"In other words, you want me to pretend nothing's happening…"

"That would be the easiest route, admittedly." Kero nodded, "However, I don't believe that you would do so. Yugi is your son after all, and it is natural for you to worry about him."

"So what do you suggest?"

"Let me train Yugi as far as I can and let him help Sakura. In exchange, Yugi keeps you informed as to what's happening and we will warn you if something like Wednesday happens again."

"It won't." Sakura said firmly, causing Kaiya to give the girl an appraising look.

It was one thing to look at Sakura and consider how things would turn out a few years down the line, if Sakura and Yugi were still friends by then, it was another to look at the girl and see the Star Mage and Cardcaptor, who apparently had been praised by Yugi's pet ghost as someone who was very powerful considering how young she was.

"And you're sure you don't know of any other Shadow Magicians who could teach Yugi everything he needs to know?"

"There aren't any that I can sense in the local area." Kero answered.

Kaiya sighed and looked at her son. "Then I don't have much choice do I?" Kaiya sighed. "Muto Yugi," Yugi's head shot up at the tone of her voice and he watched her like a convict watches a judge about to pronounce a sentence, "You may go to the party tomorrow night, but you are grounded for a week for sneaking out of the house. This means no games and no TV, however you may do your homework and you may have your friends around to practise your magic."

"Okaa-san?" Yugi breathed, having feared a much worse judgement.

"After the week is up, I will expect you to wake me if you need to leave the house on a night time to assist Sakura, and I will expect you to tell me what happened upon your return." Kaiya continued, "From now on, I want to know when you fight Clow Cards and if you face them while I'm in work, I expect you to inform me when I get home. You have a mobile phone; leave a message on the answer machine for me."

"Yes Okaa-san." Yugi nodded.

"Kerberos, you'd better train Yugi and Sakura well and keep these children safe…"

"I will, Muto-Sama." Kero nodded, "I do not wish to incur the wrath of you or Sakura's older brother."

Kaiya had to force back her amusement at that in her attempts to maintain a serious expression, "What about you Tomoyo? Do you have anyone who knows what you are up to?"

"My bodyguards are normally just around the corner should I need them."

"But your family are unaware?"

"It's just me and my mother in the house." Tomoyo shook her head, "And my mother isn't around much, she's the CEO of an electronics' company, so she's always working. My bodyguards look after me though."

"And you Tea?"

"Um… they're… busy…"

Kaiya sighed, wondering what it was about this group that all their parents were all busy and not around much. Had events been arranged so that the children involved would be unable to get assistance from their parents …? And if so she'd like a word with the organiser…

There was a knock on the door and Kaiya left the room to answer the front door.

The children all breathed a sigh of relief and Kero sat down on the table and gave Yugi a relieved smile. "That went better then we thought it would."

"You have to be more careful." Tea frowned at him.

"It was Yami that gave us away to Toya!" Kero protested.

"Tomoyo, your bodyguards have come to the door." Kaiya popped her head around the door, "Apparently it's time to go."

"See you tomorrow guys." Tomoyo picked her bag up, checked Yugi had all the costume pieces and left with a wave.

"I should be going too." Tea stood up, "My parents will be home soon."

"I told Toya I'd cook tea." Sakura stood up, as Kero flew into her bag, "I'll walk home with you."

"See you guys tomorrow?" Yugi asked wistfully, well aware that an entire weekend without games was going to be less then fun, yet alone an entire week.

"I'll meet you at the party." Tea nodded.

"We'll be over for a couple of hours at lunch time." Sakura promised.

"Thanks Sakura."

"No problem." She grinned, "See you tomorrow Yugi."

"Have a good night."

"Think of it this way. At least we shouldn't have to remind you to do your homework."

"Don't say it out loud!" Kero protested, poking his head out of the bag, "Yugi's grounded for long enough as it is. He'll miss the tournament if he's grounded for any longer!"

"Oops, sorry Yugi." Tea blushed. "See you tomorrow."

"See you…" Yugi saw his two friends to the door and then followed his mum into the kitchen.

"Yugi, I want you to know that I'm more concerned then angry. I will be talking to my father about this, you realise, and if he feels that we'd be better of finding a Shadow Magician to train you, I'll find one…some how."

"Okaa-san…" Yugi sighed, "I'll be fine."

"We'll see…" She sighed, just knowing that Yugi would want to try to convince her to let Kero train him, well she knew how to turn the conversation down another path, "What do you want for tea."

"Uhhh…"

* * *

It had to be said that Yugi felt completely and utterly out of place.

He had to wonder if his mother had known he would feel awkward at this party and that had been the reason that he had still been allowed to go…

It was the sort of party where adults gathered in small groups to talk business, waiters and waitresses took snacks around on small plates to compliment the buffet table and children should be seen and not heard.

As far as Yugi could work out, the business men had only brought their children in order to have a 'my child is better looking and better behaved then your child' competition, which, personally, he found rather silly.

A couple of the children had come over to talk to him and rapidly lost interest when he hadn't been the son of a really rich business man, so all in all he'd mostly been just hanging around with Tomoyo, Sakura and Tea, since they were the only ones he knew and the only ones that he really felt comfortable around.

"Want some more snacks?" He asked the girls, two of whom nodded. "I'll be right back." He edged towards the buffet table, stacking a plate with a few things, like sausage rolls and sandwiches, before reaching for the last of the chocolate logs.

At exactly the same time as an older, taller, boy with brunette hair reached for it.

Sharp blue eyes turned to look at him, considering him.

"I was here first." Yami said, taking control the moment Yugi's hand and the boy's hand had connected, sensing something, and now as he looked at the child, something within him cried out that he knew the boy somehow, but he couldn't remember how.

"You're only here because you're friends with Daidoji Tomoyo." The boy felt the urge to point out.

"I'll play you for it." Yami smirked.

"A game?" The boy looked amused. Yami nodded, "What game shall we play?"

"There are a few games in the next room over, chess, checkers, cards, I'm sure we can find one that you can play."

"I'll warn you now, I never lose." The boy warned confidently.

"Really?" Yami was instantly very interested.

"That's right."

Yami put the last chocolate roll on a plate and smirked at the boy. "Coming?"

"You should introduce yourself first." The boy scowled.

"My apologies," Yami replied well aware that the boy hadn't given his name either, "I'm Muto Yugi."

"My name is Kaiba Seto."

* * *

"Where did Yugi go?" Sakura asked, looking over to the buffet table, where the plate of food was still stood, but there was no sign of their friend.

"Uhhh…" Tomoyo looked around, frowning, "He was there a minute ago…"

"He was heading into the study with… oh what was his name, your mum did tell us…" Tea sighed, trying to remember, "Tall brown haired guy…"

Tomoyo sighed, "I could name at least three boys with brown hair, so that's not every helpful."

"Sorry."

"Let's go bug them." Tomoyo grabbed Sakura and Tea's arms and pulled them over to the study, where they slipped inside the door, only to find Yami and the boy sat down at the table in the middle of the room, playing chess.

"Yugi!" Tea scolded, well aware from red eyes and the way he was sat that she was in fact talking to Yami, "I thought you were getting some food."

"I am." Yami replied, completely unruffled, "Knight to E5," He moved the piece and looked at his opponent; "Kaiba and I are just settling who gets the last chocolate roll."

"Yugi, you're not supposed to be playing games, remember?" Tea scowled, wondering if Yami was trying to get Yugi into trouble. "You're grounded."

"Queen to F5." Kaiba said, moving his piece, listening with interest.

"Just don't tell my mum." Yami replied.

"Yugi!" Tea sighed while Tomoyo wondered how on earth they could ever tell Yami's mother… they'd need a time machine.

"If no one says anything, he won't get into trouble." Kaiba looked at the girls.

Tomoyo considered for a moment and then ushered the others away to a place where they could watch from but wouldn't be a distraction.

"Hello." A small child with long black hair nodded to them from his seat on the window ledge.

"Hi, are you watching too?" Sakura asked quietly, though now that they weren't talking to either player, the pair seemed lost in their game.

"Uh huh. Seto's my big brother. He never loses!" The boy said with a grin.

"I'm Daidoji Tomoyo," Tomoyo took on role of hostess, "These are my friends, Kinomoto Sakura and Gardener Tea. The one playing your brother is my friend Muto Yugi."

"I'm Kaiba Mokuba and my brother's name is Kaiba Seto." The boy replied.

"Nice to meet you." Sakura half bowed, Tea following suit.

"Same." Mokuba jumped down from the ledge and bowed back.

"This should be really good." Tea told them as they settled down, "I've never known Yugi to lose a game either."

"Really?" Mokuba asked.

"Uh huh." Tea nodded, "Yugi normally beats everyone in almost every game he plays… except sports, he's too small…"

Mokuba giggled.

"I heard that Tea." Yami jokingly warned as he moved his King into a safe place.

"You know it's true." Tea prodded back, still a little irritated that Yami had decided to break a rule.

"Check." Seto said with a grin as he moved a piece.

"Checkmate." Yami replied, moving his king aside to capture a piece and reveal the trap that Kaiba had walked straight into.

"What?" Mokuba yelped, going over to his brother's side to check if that was correct.

"He beat me fair and square, Mokie." Seto admitted.

Yami considered the chocolate roll, "Was this for you?" He asked Mokuba.

"Uh huh." Mokuba looked upset, making Yami wonder how much of it was because he wouldn't have the roll now and how much was because Seto had lost.

"Don't be mean Yugi." Tomoyo poked him, "Let Mokuba have it."

"Well I was picking it up for Sakura, so…" Yami looked over to Sakura, who was looking out the window. "Sakura?"

"Mokuba can have it." She replied quickly.

"Here you go." Yami handed it over.

"Thank you Yugi, thank you Sakura." Mokuba bowed.

"You're very good." Seto said grudgingly, shaking Yami's hand.

"So are you. I nearly lost that a couple of times." Yami replied honestly.

"Coming Mokie?" Seto asked his brother, indicating the door.

"Uh huh. See you later." Mokuba followed his brother out.

"What's wrong Sakura?" Yami asked, coming over to her side and sighing as he looked out the window. "Tomoyo, please tell me that your mother deliberately put up lights in the back garden and that they can somehow float in mid air."

"You're kidding me."

"I wish." Yami growled. "I'd also like to be joking when I mention the dragon that seems to be curled up on your back lawn in a mountain of treasure."

"Dragon?" Now Tomoyo was convinced he was making things up and came over to look herself. "Oh… Clow Card?"

"Has to be." Yami nodded.

"Feels like more then one." Sakura frowned.

Tea was already phoning Kero and was explaining the situation a few seconds later.

"GLOW and… you have no idea… well that's useful…" Tea sounded sarcastic, "Oh… you want Yugi and Sakura to what?"

"Fight it probably." Yami groaned.

Tea wished Yami was wrong as the dragon was woken by…

"Okay Kero, new question," Yami took the phone from her, "What card can create winged animals that float around the sky and… Ra damn it!" Yami shoved the phone back at Tea and he and Sakura ran outside, as a pink flying hippo crashed into the dragon and woke it up.

"That has to be The CREATE!" Kero was saying, "What's going on?"

"Something just woke the dragon up." Tea scowled as Yami and Sakura stood face to face with the dragon, "Is the dragon the CREATE card?"

"No, it only works when someone is writing in it, the dragon is something that The CREATE created." Kero said and then let Tea relay the information.

Yami had thrown up one of his Shadow barriers, since the dragon seemed intent on burning down the house now it had been woken up, and Sakura was trying to subdue it with The WATERY, while Yami did something they hadn't seen him do before.

From the deck that Yugi had shoved into his pocket without thinking, Yami drew a card and summoned the monster that he'd drawn.

Tomoyo wished she had her camera to hand as Yami's huge electric based demon battled the dragon, allowing Sakura the chance to capture The GLOW, which caused all the little lights to go out.

"What the…?" She heard someone breath as Yami's demon's lightening brought the dragon crashing to the ground.

"Seto!" She recognised the second voice as Seto somehow pushed his way through Yami's shadow barrier and walked straight up to the dragon, putting his hand on its nose.

"Kaiba!" Yami yelped, his Summoned Skull having to grab the boy before the dragon tried to take a bite out him. "How did you get through the barrier?"

"This… is a Summoned Skull…" Kaiba looked ecstatic. "A real Summoned Skull…and a real dragon…"

"Sakura, Kero says that you just have to hold on until whoever is using the CREATE stops." Tea called, wondering how they had managed to attract the attention of Seto and Mokuba, and yet none of the adults had the slightest clue that there was something going on out here.

"Easier said then done." Yami grumbled as he rolled out from under the dragon's fiery breath. "Summoned Skull, lightening strike!" He ordered.

The fiend put Seto down and blasted the dragon, who decided that enough was enough and attempted to take to the air.

"Blackland Fire Dragon!" Yami called, summoning the green dragon in front of Kaiba, who watched with unbridled enthusiasm as Blackland Fire Dragon and the dragon fought in mid air.

"It's fading!" Tomoyo finally called after what seemed like hours, but was only around twenty minutes.

"Return to the guise that you were meant to be in!" Sakura bellowed, well aware of just how tired Yami was, "CLOW CARD!"

At the end of her staff, the second of the two cards formed, allowing Yami to dismiss his monsters and dissolve his shield.

The next thing he knew, Kaiba had caught him and he was being sat down on the steps into the main hall.

"Yugi, are you alright?" Sakura asked, concerned but holding The CREATE tightly.

"Haven't done that for a while." Yami frowned. "I'll get used to it again."

"How did you do that?" Kaiba asked.

"Oh no, not again." Yami heard Tea groan in the background.

* * *

"That's it." Kero growled, when Sakura explained what had happened, "We need to get the ERASE and soon, we can't have anyone else walking around who knows about the Clow Cards. This could get dangerous if that kids lets slip…"

"He won't." Sakura said, "At least Yami doesn't think so. He thinks Kaiba has Shadow magic too."

"Really?" Kero looked thoughtful, "Did he sense it or…"

"Apparently that's why they switched over in the first place."

"Huh." Kero paced the cover of the book of Clow, "But he didn't seem to know anything about it?"

"Uh uh."

"Perhaps it's a power that's blocked until something unlocks it…" This was something Kero had never considered it before. "Contact with the Puzzle perhaps…" Kero was lost in thought for a while, giving Sakura the chance to write her name on her two new cards.

"Kero, how does the CREATE card work?" Sakura asked.

"Why?"

* * *

That had been the longest Yami had been awake since the aquarium, so it hardly surprising that he'd gone back to sleep almost instantly.

Yugi had told his mum everything that had happened, explained that he was tired and headed upstairs, changing out of the, slightly muddy, costume and into his pyjamas, before settling on his bed to meditate, as he did every night.

He couldn't remember when this had become such a habit that he did it without thinking, but he slipped into the breathing pattern easily.

Kaiya poked her head in the door, amused to find that instead of mediating, Yugi had fallen asleep.

She rearranged him, settling him in for the night and took the Puzzle off of him, wondering just how many times he had fallen asleep wearing it. He'd injure his neck like that…

She couldn't do anything about the destiny that her son had walked into, not without separating Yugi from his friends and losing her job, but she could at least be a mother figure for the group when they didn't have anyone else to turn to.

This would mean being around as much as she could, and looking out for them.

The fact that she would get to spend more time with her son appealed too.

"Goodnight, my little one." She kissed Yugi on the forehead and slipped out of the room, turning the light off as she went and shutting the door behind her.

* * *

**Author Note: - Yeay Seto! Yeay Mokie!**

**P.S. As a way of admitting it has been far to long without an update, there's also a chapter of Mantle of Leadership and Spacial Rend to read if you are interested.**


	8. A Good Night's SLEEP

Sakura would have invited Yugi to come along to the university where her father worked, but he was still grounded, at least until tomorrow morning, so she'd come on her own, since Toya was in work, Tomoyo had practise, Tea's parents wanted to take their daughter out for a meal and she hadn't been able to work up the courage to ask Yukito to come with her.

It had been a while since she'd been to Tomoeda University to deliver a meal to her father, she didn't think she'd done it since before she had accidently unleashed the Clow Cards and that had been almost two months ago now. She was rather disappointed in herself for that and wondered if her Dad had missed the meals she had brought, since, when he got caught up in work, he would often forget to eat unless someone prodded him.

She was currently lost. They had changed things around since she had last been here, the humanities department had moved from where it had been at the start of the year, and was apparently halfway across campus.

Taking Kero's advice (the Guardian of the Clow Cards was hidden in her backpack), she had asked people for directions, but some people had directed her back to the old building, which had been closed for renovations, while others had merely looked confused and apologised.

"Is something the matter?" Sakura jumped and turned around, only to find a tall female Student had approached without her noticing, and was smiling at Sakura's nervous look.

"Uhhh, I want to find the Humanities Department."

"Humanities?" The young woman, probably around twenty years old, was joined by a pair of young men, who hovered in the background discussing something about a recent find somewhere in China, asked.

"Yeap." Sakura nodded nervously.

"Who are you looking for in the Humanities Department?" She asked, looking over her shoulder for a moment when the guys' discussion got a little loud and shutting them up with a glance, before turning back to Sakura.

"Kinomoto, from the History section."

"Kinomoto-Sensei?" One of the men suddenly looked a lot more interested.

"You know my Dad?" Sakura smiled brightly, hoping that they'd know exactly where to find her Father.

"Yes," The woman nodded, "Are you Kinomoto-Sensei's daughter?"

"Yes, I'm Kinomoto Sakura." Sakura bowed.

"You're so cute." The woman grinned, "Would you like to see one of your father's lectures?" She asked, winking at her.

"Can I?"

The woman nodded, leading the Cardcaptor over to a window, the men following, still discussing, and pointed inside. Sakura looked through the glass to see her father lecturing on Mesopotamia and the food stuffs they grew and traded. There were many students taking notes, a few who were just listening and one young man, who was poking the woman sat next to him who had fallen asleep.

"Kinomoto-Sensei's lectures are really popular." The woman who had led them over said, with a small grin.

"They are rather interesting." One of the men broke off their conversation to add.

"I never thought I'd be interested this in history when I went to college." The other added. Considering his rather lively debate that had been going on the whole time she'd been watching, Sakura had to assume that he had become rather passionate about it since.

"We're Kinomoto-Sensei's lab assistants right now." The woman said, sounding rather proud of that fact. "We're able to help him do all sorts of research."

"I see." Sakura smiled, "Thank you for taking care of my dad."

"No, we're the ones being taken care of." The woman shook her head, looking at her watch when the alarm on it beeped. "Oops, the lecture will be finished in ten minutes and we're supposed to be meeting with your father afterwards," She said, glancing into the lecture hall, where Fujitaka was in fact wrapping up his talk, "If you'd like to come with us…"

"Thank you." Sakura followed them into a building, down several winding corridors and finally to a wooden sliding door that the woman escorting Sakura knocked on and waited patiently.

"Come in…"

"Kintomoto-Sensei, your daughter's here to see you."

"Huh? Sakura-Chan?" Kinomoto Fujitaka wheeled around, concern and worry obvious as he gazed at his daughter.

"Hello." Sakura nodded, nervously.

"What's wrong?" Her Dad asked, getting out of his chair quickly and nodding to the students who had escorted her.

"I brought you some dinner." Sakura held up the food basket she'd been carrying all afternoon since she'd prepared it at five to five, once she'd captured The DASH and gotten home from school.

Fujitaka sat down, relief obvious in his tone and expression, "Thank you for coming out to see me." He said, glancing at the clock on the wall, which currently read twelve minutes past six.

"Sensei," The woman called, "We'll be in the resource room."

"Thank you, Yukari, Kaemon, Daitaro." Fujitaka nodded. The three students nodded back and shut the door behind them. "Let me go and speak to my students and then we'll enjoy all this lovely food." He said, "You want to come and see what we've been working on?"

Sakura nodded and followed her father out, leaving the basket behind.

Kero took the opportunity to leave the basket, flying, cautiously up to the window, and looking out. He'd sensed something while they'd been over by the lecture hall, but he wasn't sure what it was…

* * *

Yugi was bored.

B.

O.

R.

E.

D.

Bored.

He only had to get through tonight and then he'd be free to do whatever he wanted again, but he'd done his homework, completed his chores, had a bath, fed the cat and still he had three and a half hours until bedtime.

It wasn't even like he could talk with Yami, the Pharaoh was firmly asleep after chasing The DASH halfway across the city earlier, on their way home from school, and probably wouldn't wake up until tomorrow.

Yugi never minded helping Sakura out, not only did it mean that Sakura was catching the cards without too much trouble, Yami seemed to be getting stronger too, but when it meant that the spirit he shared his body with tended to crash out much earlier then him when they went after Clow cards, leaving him without someone to talk to when his mother was busy, he got bored.

He would have gone through his deck again, but his mum had said no games, and though Yami had broken that rule at the party, Yugi had no great urge to get caught messing around with his cards and be grounded for another week.

"Gah." The eleven year old led back on his bed, staring at the ceiling, trying to think of something interesting to do, finally deciding to finish the book he'd been reading, ignoring the doorbell which went off twenty minutes later.

"Muto Yugi!" Yugi sat bolt upright and put his book down at his mother's tone of voice, frowning towards the door, "Muto Yugi get down here this instant."

Yugi got up and wandered downstairs. "Mum?" He asked, poking his head around the kitchen door.

His mother didn't look too amused as she ushered him into the living room, where a rather bedraggled looking blonde with a rather painful looking black eye, was sat looking rather sorry for himself, Aiko curled up on his lap, purring. "Hi Yugi."

"Joey?" Yugi stared at the boy in surprise, "What're you doing here?"

"Uhhh…" Joey looked at Yugi's mother, who looked like she too wanted an answer. "You said I could come round at any time I was in Tomoeda…"

"Sure, but…"

"Is he a friend of yours?" Kaiya asked Yugi, who nodded.

"If it's a problem…" Joey stood up.

"No, no." Kaiya reassured him, "It's just Yugi's grounded at the moment, so he's supposed to tell me if he has friends coming over."

"Yugi didn't know." Joey defended the other boy, who was looking rather confused at the events that were unfolding. "I thought I'd drop by since I'm in the area."

That was the part that was confusing Yugi. He remembered giving Joey his address so that they could exchange letters, but he hadn't known Joey was visiting Tomoeda today, he didn't even know why Joey would have been considering that it was a school day, so why had he come round?

"Will you be staying for dinner?" Kaiya asked.

"Thank you, Muto-San." Joey nodded appreciatively.

Kaiya went back to cooking and Yugi turned to Joey. "So why are you in the area, and what happened to your eye?"

"I don't want to talk about it," Joey growled, hand going to his right eye, "But I was wondering if I could crash for a while."

"Why?"

"Family stuff."

"I dunno…" Yugi hesitated; trying not to think that it sounded like Joey had run away from home.

"Please Yugi, it'll only be for a couple of nights…" Joey pleaded.

"It's not up to me." Yugi held up his hands, "If mum says yes, then yes, but she's going to want to know why."

Joey hesitated, though Yugi hadn't thought it was possible for Joey's shoulders to sink any lower, they did, and the blonde mumbled something about his mother and serenity.

"What did you say?"

"I said Mum left and she took Serenity with her."

"Who's Serenity?"

"My little sister."

"Why?"

Joey shrugged, assuming it was because of his father's drink problem, but not wanting to say anything.

"What about your Dad?"

"Hasn't been home in three days."

"Tell mum, I'm sure she'll let you stay until something can be worked out." Yugi looked towards the kitchen, "I'll go and ask."

"Thanks Yuge…"

* * *

Sakura didn't need this, not here.

The SLEEP had invaded her father's meeting with his Students and had put the four to sleep, leaving Sakura and Kero awake to chase it, carefully around the building, trying to stop it from putting every single student and lecturer still in the building to sleep.

She'd finally got it cornered in her father's office, not the ideal place for a showdown, but the only other door it hadn't tried was the one to the outside and there was no way she wanted it to get out.

She jumped back, avoiding the blue dust that the card was dispersing, the reason people were falling asleep, "Sakura, watch…" Kero started yelping but swiftly joined all of the sleeping humans on the floor.

"WINDY!" She bellowed, hitting the card with her staff. She didn't need to tell it what to do, by now WINDY knew her duty, capturing the little blue sprite, who squirmed and struggled as WINDY brought it down to Sakura's level, but could escape from the intense winds, that were, to Sakura's dismay, sending all of her father's notes and papers in all directions.

This had to end now. "Return to the guise you were meant to be, CLOW CARD!"

SLEEP turned back into a card and WINDY quickly followed, her duty done.

Sakura looked around the office.

The laptop and the heavy books were fine, it was just the papers that would be a problem… how was she going to explain this?

She quickly jotted her name down on the new card and got tidying, maybe if she started now, she would be done before…

"Sakura?"

She jumped, wheeling around, only to find that Kero had woken up and was looking at the mess.

"Did you get the card?" He asked, helping her pick up as many sheets as he could carry carefully, which amounted to batches of two.

"Uh huh." She said, carefully stacking the sheets in piles that had the same header. She didn't understand a lot of what was on the sheets, but if they were tidy, she could think of something…

"Sakura-Chan?" Kero squeaked and hid behind Fujitaka's laptop as the door slid open further and the Professor poked his head round the door. "What happened in here?"

"I…I…" Sakura didn't want to lie to her father, but she couldn't tell him the truth either… or could she? They'd told Muto Kaiya, Yugi's Mum, the truth and she'd been ok with it… would her father be any different?

She hesitated, causing Fujitaka to shoo his students away and enter the room, shutting the door behind him.

"Are you alright?" He asked, kneeling so his eyes were level with hers, and putting a reassuring hand on her shoulder.

"I'm ok." Sakura nodded, gazing at the floor.

"What's wrong?"

"Otousan…" Sakura hesitated a moment longer. "Sorry."

"What for?" Her father looked around the room, his gaze resting on the papers she'd tried to clear up, "It was bound to get knocked over sooner or later, I leave too much mess around."

Sakura's phone rang.

"Go on." Fujitaka nodded to her, sort through the papers and adjusting the order of some and looking for others.

She answered it, "Kinomoto Sakura… Yugi-Kun?"

Fujitaka tried not to be amused that the boy that his daughter had befriended only a month and a half ago, had reached the point where he warranted a 'kun' honorific.

"Wheeler-San? In Tomoeda? Sure…I mean…" She hesitated, looking at her father, "I'd have to ask… can I call you back? Thanks." She ended the call and sighed.

"Something happened?"

"Yugi wanted to know if he could borrow our camp bed for a while." She replied, glad of the distraction, but still feeling guilty, "His is broken and he's got a friend staying over for a couple of nights."

"Sure, just let me finish tidying up and we can go, I can finish up in the morning." Fujitaka said, quickly sorting the papers and stapling them together properly this time, before bagging up his laptop, grabbing the books he would need, and sending his assistants home for the first time in days.

"Come on," Fujitaka double checked that there was nothing else he needed to finish up the presentation he needed to complete, then ushered Sakura out of the door and locked up behind them, "Let's get your friend that camp bed."

* * *

"You sure it's alright?" Joey asked, as Yugi set up the camp bed in a corner of his room and changed the sheets on the bed for the blonde that had invaded his house.

"I'm sure. You can have the bed, I don't mind the camp bed." Yugi nodded, making sure there was somewhere safe nearby to put his Puzzle, "I just hope you don't mind being woken up early by a kitten."

"What do you mean?"

"Aiko likes to wake me up before my alarm goes. She'll probably clamber all over you, at about six." Yugi grinned.

"But school doesn't start till half eight."

"Eight o'clock." Yugi laughed, "I have to leave the house at quarter past seven if I want to make it on time."

"Oh…"

"I wouldn't worry," Yugi shrugged, "It's not like you can come to my school and since Mum said you can stay until she can get in contact with your mother…"

"She was talking about tutoring…" Joey frowned as Yugi pulled on his PJs and, since Joey hadn't brought much with him, dug out a t-shirt that was too big for him and offered it to Joey, frowning when it didn't fit.

"She'll work something out." Yugi nodded, watching as Joey clambered into bed in just his boxer shorts.

"Light out?" Joey asked.

"Sure." Yugi shrugged, lying back on the camp bed and staring at the ceiling, it wasn't anymore interesting from here, than it had been from the bed. Joey flicked the light switch, putting the room in almost total darkness, allowing Yugi to finally relax finally.

It wasn't easy to meditate, thoughts kept popping into his head, mainly about how lucky he was that his Mum hadn't just left when she'd gotten a new job, about what would happen if his mum couldn't contact Joey's…

In the end he had to give up for the night, mentally making a note to try again in the morning. He had to do it at least once a day, to stop his magic flaring up and hindering Sakura and Kero, but he just couldn't focus.

He finally gave up, took the Puzzle off, left it on the pillow by his head and closed his eyes, drifting off quickly.

Joey was still awake when Kaiya slipped into the bedroom to check on them an hour later.

"Hey." She whispered, as Joey budged over on the bed, to make room for Kaiya to sit down.

"Hey." Joey whispered back, eyes flickering to Yugi who was murmuring something about magicians in his sleep.

"Out like a light." Kaiya laughed quietly, "Like normal when they've been chasing Clow Cards."

"Huh?" Joey looked confused, having not known that Yugi's mum knew about the magic.

"Yugi often sleeps easier after he's been chasing Clow Cards." Kaiya whispered, smiling slightly.

Joey nodded, thinking that Yugi was probably exhausted, since he remembered how tired Yugi had been after he had gamed against Ushio. "Muto-San, thank you." He whispered.

"Its okay, Wheeler-Kun," She replied, "Sleep now and I'll start making arrangements in the morning. You can't be out of school too long and if you're going to be living with us long term, I need to make some arrangements."

"I don't…"

"Go to sleep, Wheeler-Kun." Kaiya smiled at him, "I'll work it out, you just rest, you've had a long day." She ruffled his hair and stood up.

Joey watched as she went over to Yugi's bed, kissed her son's forehead, and adjusted the Puzzle, before smiling at him and left the room, pulling the door to behind her.

"Thank you." He murmured as he drifted off.

* * *

**Author Note: - Poor Joey…**


	9. A SWEET Evening

It was late on Friday evening and Sakura was just finishing the batch of cakes, which, as long as her brother didn't eat them all overnight, would come with them to the Tournament tomorrow.

They'd gathered at Yugi's place for a couple of hours after school, to say hi to Joey and discuss their plans for the Tournament. They were all going, of course, Sakura wanted to watch, since she was interested in the game, but didn't feel she was ready to enter a tournament, Joey wanted to get out of the house, Yugi, of course, was trying for victory, Tomoyo wanted to record it and Tea didn't want to be left out.

All bar Kero that was, who had told them, rather firmly, that he was staying at home, as he had no interest in playing at being a stuffed toy all day while they played cards. Yugi had said that he didn't expect to get past the group stages anyway, but Kero had said, 'no thank you' repeatedly and said that he'd have his phone if they needed to reach him.

It had been awkward at first. They didn't really know Joey very well, and he didn't really know them, but the awkwardness had slowly slipped away as Joey was filled in on the Clow Cards and the Puzzle, introduced to Yami, who had woken up when Sakura had let him see her staff properly, and then he'd told them about him and his little sister, Serenity, mentioning that she had to go to the doctors a lot, but not really explaining why.

By the time all of that had been settled, they had decided who was going to bring what, and went their separate ways, it had been about five o'clock, which left Sakura more then enough time to make some cakes for tomorrow.

Or it would have done, had the first batch not turned out so sweet that they'd been uneatable.

This was her second batch, and she'd done everything exactly to the recipe. Now she was just waiting for them to cool.

"Hi Sakura-Chan."

Sakura blushed the moment Yukito started speaking, turning around quickly and giving him a shy smile, "Hello Yukito-San." She half curtsied, as her brother's best friend slid into one of the chairs at the table. "Would you like a cake?"

As Yukito's appetite was legendary, she wasn't surprised when the teenager, with short grey hair and soft brown eyes, grinned and nodded.

Hoping that she had it right this time, she put a, still slightly warm, cake on a plate and passed it over.

Yukito took a bite as Toya entered the room, "Hey monster." Toya nodded, swiping a cake off of the cooling rack and sitting at the table, ignoring Sakura's protest that those cakes were for her friends.

"They wouldn't eat them anyway." Toya told her, "What did you do? Add twice the amount of sugar?"

"Not again!" Sakura complained, quickly tasting one herself and groaning.

"I don't think it tastes so bad." Yukito said, finishing his off and looking at Toya, "You going to finish that?"

Toya, more then used to his friend's whims by now, just snorted, amused, as Yukito swiftly polished off the other cake.

"Would you like the rest of them, Yukito-San?" Sakura asked as she tried to work out whether she had enough flour to try again.

"I couldn't steal all of your cakes, if they're for the others…"

"I don't mind, honest." Sakura flashed him a smile as she found another half bag of flour and just enough sugar to try one last time. "If you'd like them."

"Thank you, Sakura-Chan." Yukito nodded, then surprised the girl by coming around the counter and helping her set up. "But I can't take them without helping you make a fresh batch, that is, if you don't mind, Toya." The teenager, who had been friends with Toya for a long time, it had to be two or three years by now, gave him a small, pleading smile and Toya scowled, knowing Yukito was trying to guilt him into helping.

"If we don't help, they'll never get finished." Toya grumped, getting up and sweeping the cakes on the cooling rack into a tin, putting them aside for the time being, in order to make room for the next batch. "But this time I'll add the sugar." He smirked.

Sakura grumbled but nodded, knowing Toya was just teasing.

Yukito chuckled, watching the interaction with a great deal of amusement. "We should ice them too." He said, making Toya groan and Sakura's eyes light up, the girl darting to the cupboards to find the icing sugar, "I'm sure the others will enjoy them more if we do."

"We'd better be able to eat some of these." Toya continued to grump.

"I only need seven." Sakura told him, "So any that are left over, you can have."

"Seven?" Yukito asked, confused. "I thought you only had three friends who were going to this tournament?"

"Well there's Yugi, Tea and Tomoyo, and then there's Joey, who's staying with Yugi for a while, and I want to take a couple extra, just in case someone else wants one." Sakura explained, feeling guilty for lying but there was no way she could tell Yukito the truth. Her brother had worked it out on his own but she didn't know how much Yukito was aware of, which was why Kero was still hiding behind a picture frame.

"Joey?" Toya questioned, not sure that not having heard about any friends in Tomoeda with that name.

"Wheeler Joey." Sakura explained, as Yukito started weighing out the flour and she broke the last of the eggs. "We met him in Domino."

"When you went to see Muto-San's grandfather?" Toya frowned, wondering if it was the same Wheeler Joey that had defeated the FIGHT card.

"Uh huh." Sakura nodded, watching her brother make the connections in his head. After Yugi's 'accident' at the Aquarium, she'd had to tell her brother everything, including about Yugi's Shadow Game with Ushio, and the blonde that had managed, somehow, to defeat a Clow Card.

Toya was convinced that there was something unusual about the kid, and looked forward to running into him.

Toya frowned, caught Yukito about to weigh out the sugar and seized the bag. "No way, Yuki," He warned him, "You'd add enough sugar to rot their teeth."

"I wouldn't!" Yukito protested, but not particularly strenuously, winking at Sakura, who giggled.

"I saw that Yuki." Toya half mock growled, as he weighed out the right amount and added it to the mix. "They should be right this time."

"I'm going to watch them." Sakura told him, "And make sure nothing goes wrong."

"Good." Yukito and Toya stayed down until the cakes went in the oven and then they headed upstairs to work or play games or something. It wasn't unusual for Yukito to sleep over, as his Grandparents, who he lived with, were often away on trips around the world.

Sakura sat, in front of the oven, the timer ticking, just staring at the cakes.

Kero poked his head out from behind the photo, "Are they gone?"

"Uh huh." Sakura took her eyes off the cakes for a moment or two and sighed happily.

"If it had just been your brother, it wouldn't have mattered, but since Yukito was here, I had to hide." Kero complained, "I wanted one of those cakes."

"They were too sweet again." Sakura shook her head, "You hated the first batch."

"And you're sure you sensed a Clow Card the last time around?" Kero frowned. "And you didn't just add too much sugar?"

"Uh huh. I double checked the sugar the second time." Sakura turned back to watch the cakes, eyes widening as a tiny little parchment yellow fairy darted into the oven.

"I thought so, it's The SWEET!" Kero growled, as Sakura opened the oven and tried to catch it, causing it to fly out of the oven with a disapproving look and hover over the table, which turned into chocolate.

"What?" Sakura yelped, as she activated her key.

"SWEET can turn anything into anything sweet." Kero told her, "But hates things like salt and…"

Sakura grabbed the huge pot of salt, shutting the door that her brother and Yukito had left through and turning to look at SWEET, who didn't seem the least bit phased. In fact it giggled as it darted around the kitchen turned dining room.

Chairs that were cookies were all well and good, they probably tasted delicious, but they would be no good to sit on, just like candy cane and icing clocks weren't helpful and chocolate bookcases would melt in the heat, just as the table was starting to do.

This had to stop.

Sakura chased the Clow Card around the room, knocking over chairs and yelping as she bashed her knee on the chocolate table.

"Are you alright?" Toya asked, opening the door. "I heard a…"

SWEET darted out of the door and Sakura growled in frustration. "Oniichan!"

Toya moved aside to let Sakura catch up with the card she was chasing, trying not to be amused as the small fairy turned everything in the hallway into something edible and sweet, grateful that Yukito was in his room, writing up his English homework.

Sakura chased it into the living room, where the sofa had already become a big sponge cake and SWEET was working on making the rest of the room match it, shutting the door behind her, then turning to SWEET, who, quite frankly, looked bored of this game and was looking an escape route.

"Return to the guise you were meant to be!" Sakura started.

SWEET darted behind the TV.

"That's not going to work…" Kero growled, "You're going to have to trap it somehow."

Sakura snuck around the back of the television set, chucking some of the salt at SWEET. It shook itself off, looking angry and attempted to fly away.

A second handful forced it to fly the way Sakura wanted it to, straight into a corner. "Return to the guise you were meant to be," She repeated. "Clow Card!"

SWEET became a card again and slowly all of the furniture became furniture again.

"Why?" Sakura asked, confused, as she wrote her name on the card.

"Clow Reed had a sweet tooth." Kero sighed as they headed back to the kitchen, where Toya was waiting, "And he created SWEET to make sweet things to eat at anytime."

"He really created a card for that?" Toya didn't sound amused, stealing one of Yukito's cakes and trying it. "These taste fine now. I take it that card was making them sweeter then usual?"

"Uh huh." Sakura nodded.

"It was a relief when he created SWEET." Kero growled at Toya, "It was always around to provide something to eat when Clow got lost in his work."

Toya just snorted as Sakura righted the chairs. "Are we going to have anymore distractions tonight?"

"I hope not, but I'll warn you if I have to go out." Sakura promised.

Toya just nodded and exited the room.

Sakura took a deep breath and sank into a chair, leaning back and looking at the ceiling.

"Are you alright, Sakura?" Kero asked, concerned as Sakura blushed a bright pink.

"Yu-Ki-To-San!" She giggled in response, having not had a chance to do so before now, having been concerned about the cakes and what with Yukito being in the room.

Kero just sighed, wishing that his Cardcaptor didn't have a crush on her brother's best friend. She always ended up swooning over him sooner or later.

The timer buzzed, shaking Sakura out of her reverie.

Kero watched, amused, she darted to the oven to get the cakes out and started missing the icing.

She was determined to get these cakes right…

"I hope you're going to save some for me." He said, watching as she put white icing on and added the little gold candy balls that she'd found in the cupboard.

"Why do you think I said I needed seven?" Sakura asked, "Me, Tomoyo, Yugi, Tea," She counted them off on her fingers, "Joey, Yami and you, to take upstairs while I'm out."

"Oh." Now Kero felt silly. "But what if Yami doesn't want one?"

"He might," Sakura said defensively, "It would be rude for me not to take one for him and if Yami doesn't want it, Yugi might, he eats quite a bit."

"Women will be envious of him and Yukito later on in life." Kero nodded sagely.

"Huh?" Sakura gave him a confused look as she started cleaning up, washing the worst of the cake mix off the bowls and things and putting said bowls and things into the dishwasher.

"They can eat as much as they like, but they don't gain any weight." Kero explained.

Sakura continued to look confused, but Kero knew she'd understand in a few years.

"You ready for tomorrow?" Kero asked as she cleaned the sides down, watching the cakes hungrily.

"Uh huh." Sakura nodded, "But it's only a card tournament, it's not like we're going to be chasing Clow Cards."

"True." Kero allowed, but he'd been thinking more along the lines of the fact that Yugi's magic was tied to the game that Yugi was going to be playing tomorrow and they didn't know if anyone there would have the same powers.

However he didn't want to worry his mistress and they had already proved they could handle the unexpected, so he didn't want to say too much.

"It's going to be fun." Sakura giggled. "And Yugi's going to win, just you wait! We'll come home with the prize!"

Kero couldn't help being caught up in his mistress's enthusiasm, even though the prize was little more then a couple of rare cards. "You think so?"

"I know so!" She giggled, "Yugi never loses!"

Kero acknowledged that this was true, smiling slightly at the thought of the small boy who he'd been mentoring for the last couple of months beating Duellists with twice his experience, then chuckling, thinking that a simple card game would never become popular enough to be particularly well known.

This was probably a good thing. Famous names could attract trouble and attracting trouble was a bad idea.

"I'm going to give Yukito one of these cakes!" Sakura giggled, quickly putting two on a plate and making some tea to take up to Toya's room. "Wait for me in my room?" She asked. Kero nodded and she darted upstairs, carefully balancing the tray.

Kero just rolled his eyes as he floated up the steps. He had been under the impression that people didn't fall in love until they were twenty four, or perhaps that had just been Clow Reed… there had been that one lady magician when his master had been eighteen or so, who had learnt everything she knew from Clow, but they had been banned from speaking of her, after Clow had had to seal her to prevent her attempts to take over the world.

He entered Sakura's room and sat on the Book of Clow, just in time for Sakura to dart in the door, giggling like a lunatic, shut it behind her, and then lean against it, sliding down, once again sighing "Yu-Ki-To-San."

"Not again." Kero complained, well versed in his Cardcaptor's feelings on the matter by now, and staying well away until the phase that he referred to as 'find-the-nearest-plush-toy-and-squeeze-it-to-death' phase was over, since, unfortunately he was not immune from being considered a suitable toy when Sakura was in this state. "Sakura, you have class in the morning." He pointed out.

She stayed in that happy daze for a few moments longer, and then got up and got changed, heading to bed with little complaint and falling asleep without any more fuss.

Kero sighed, straightening out a few things, checking the eighteen Clow Cards that currently rested inside the Book of Clow, and making sure that the blanket covered the girl, that he both cared for and guarded, properly, before curling up in the bed that she had made him in the bottom drawer of her desk.

Tomorrow, he decided, while Sakura and her friends were playing cards. He'd be trying to be Toya's high score on that racing game…

* * *

**Author Note: - New Chap at last. I wanted to do a rather Sakura centric one, so here you go. **


	10. Shocking

Tomoyo was a little bored.

School had kicked out at midday and it hadn't been long after that that they'd gotten changed, grabbed the food they'd prepared and headed to the Tournament.

It had been organised into four groups of five Duellists, and everyone got to play everyone else in the group once. The winners from each group would be put through to the semi-finals and the winners of those matches would play the finals.

It was a no-brainer as to the identity of the winner of C Group; Yugi was just finishing up his fourth match and hadn't lost one yet, pretty much making him group winner by default since the guy he was facing now had already lost two and the others had gone home already. It had been close for a while, but Tomoyo had already worked out that Yugi was just waiting on something and the match would be over.

Coming as a group had seemed like a good idea when it had first been suggested, though she was sure Yugi had originally suggested it because he would have been too nervous to come on his own, but she didn't have much to do.

She'd already recorded as much Duelling as she could, she'd do a bit more for the finals of course, not really wanting too many hours of putting cards down on a table, as it was no where near as interesting as recording Sakura and Yami practising magic and the only real action had been when the thunder and lightening storm had started up earlier and a couple of the lights had blown out.

She had been given a pre-release structure deck for coming which she had given to Joey, so he had two, bought everyone a whole bunch of the booster packs they were selling here and was now, sitting with Tea, talking about the homework that was due in on Monday, while listening to Sakura and Joey talk about cards and watching modify their decks with the new cards they had gotten.

"Hey." Yugi grinned sheepishly as he joined the group.

"Another victory, Yuge?" Joey asked with a grin.

"Yeap, it was a good game." Yugi nodded, "Sorry, I didn't realise it would take this long." He apologised, noting the look on Tomoyo's face.

"It's ok." Tomoyo shrugged, appeased a little by Yugi's apology.

"Take a look?" Joey asked, passing his deck to Yugi and leaning back. He was kind of enjoying this, just hanging around with his friends, being part of some big secret, and not having to go to school, although he had to wonder how much longer that last one would last, considering that Mrs Muto was trying to find his mother and if she couldn't, she was talking about getting him into the same school as Yugi.

Yugi nodded, looking through the deck quickly, pausing to examine the new cards that they'd gotten today from the pre-release boosters, and nodding as he handed it back, "Looks good. You wanna play?"

Joey shook his head, "Sakura said she'd play me when your next match started." Joey indicated Sakura, who looked a little tired and was watching someone two tables over finish up. One Duellist stalked out of the room and the other shrugged and checked in the man in charge of his group. "Sore loser." Joey muttered.

The room was slowly emptying as people decided that they'd lost too many matches and went home. That Duellist hadn't been the first to get annoyed and storm off today.

Yugi stretched and looked around, sitting down and opening the cool box with sandwiches in, offering them around, "A lot of people have gone home already." He commented.

"Too scared they're gunna get their butt kicked by the new guy!" Joey sniggered.

Yugi just smiled and nibble on his food.

"I doubt that's the reason, Joey." Tea scolded.

Joey just waved her off as Sakura giggled, pulling a tin out of her bag.

"Cake?"

* * *

Of all the places to finally locate the one he'd been searching for, it was poetic that he would finally find him at a Tournament involving the modern day version of the game that had caused so much trouble in Egypt so long ago.

He walked, unseen, around the Tournament, hiding his presence from prying eyes and magical auras, having had many years of practise and watched as the one he'd been seeking defeated opponent after opponent, his magic spiking wildly as he played, though the boy seemed completely unaware of it, lost in the game as he was.

He watched as the boy joined his friends and started eating. He seemed innocent enough, certainly not what he had expected from a Shadow Wielder of such power that he had sensed it from a city that was two hours away, where he had been a week and a half ago, punishing those who had stolen from the Valley of the Kings for profit.

He had missed the boy both times that he had sensed his power since, once exactly a week ago, and once two days ago, the power had vanished before he'd been able to find where it was. He'd only been able to find him today because the boy's magic had been active since lunch.

The boy was young, certainly too young for the power he held, the child couldn't be older then eight or nine.

He'd found quite an interesting group of children to hang around with too.

One of the girls, the brunette with jade green eyes, had a powerful magic that was blunt, obvious and twinkled like starlight, her star magic dancing with darkness, the two intermingled, the darkness supporting the stars rather then trying to overpower it.

The blonde boy was a Chaos Mage that much was obvious, though the magic that was weaving around him was completely untamed, even for chaos magic, so much so that compared to the boy he'd been hunting and the girl with the star magic, it was obvious that he'd had no training and he probably wasn't even aware of it. He wondered how the boy and girl hadn't picked up on it yet.

Perhaps there hadn't been a situation that had forced his magic to come to the fore yet…

The other girls didn't seem to be mages, but considering the strength of their friends, it would be easy for a weaker mage to be lost in the background.

It wasn't just the fact there was such a concentration of power in such a small group that made them important though and it was this last thing that had him worried.

The child he had been hunting was wearing a Millennium Item. He had suspected that he had one after sensing the boy's Shadow Magic the first time. He had believed that it was the Ring since that item had been missing for many years now, but no, this child had done the impossible and completed the Millennium Puzzle.

He needed to enter the boy's mind, test his heart, challenge his powers and find out exactly what he planned to do with the power, find out how he'd gotten hold of and completed a puzzle that hadn't been completed in over five thousand years.

Only the Pharaoh could wear that item.

This child couldn't possibly be the one that they'd been waiting for all this time and if he was not, then yes, it was regrettable, but the child would have to be… removed… and the Puzzle returned to Egypt.

He would wait.

Once the boy was alone, he would challenge him to a Shadow Game.

* * *

Sakura sighed and sat back, finishing off her cake, taking a deep breath and enjoying the gap between battles.

She was uncomfortable here.

Not because she didn't enjoy Magic and Wizards, and not because she wasn't actually competing, but because Yugi's magic kept spiking and overwhelming hers, making her feel a bit like she was being squashed.

He wasn't meaning to do it, but this was the first time that he had come up against others that weren't his friends in the game that his magic were based on, she should have guessed that this would happen.

Yugi took a deep, calming breath, calming himself and his magic and for the first time in hours Sakura could sense everything around her.

Sakura's head turned towards the ceiling, hand grasping her necklace before she hesitated and took it away. "Yugi!"

Several lights exploded.

"What?" Joey asked, turning to them.

Yugi poked Yami, looking around and thinking. "SLEEP?" He asked Sakura.

She nodded, darting out of the door and hiding around a corner to activate her staff and use The SLEEP.

By the time she came back, SLEEP had done its job, all around the room people had fallen asleep where they were stood or sat, this, unfortunately, included Tea, Tomoyo and Joey.

Another chain of lights exploded.

Yami locked the room down, creating shadow barriers at the doors as she re-entered. "I thought I sensed…" He scanned the room, but he couldn't see anyone.

Another light exploded.

"Which one is it?"

"LIGHTENING?" Sakura hesitated. If she didn't know the card's identity, she couldn't seal it. Of all the times for Kero not to be around…

"Call Kero, I'll keep it distracted." Yami told her, still convinced he'd sensed magic of his own verity when he'd been casting to protect himself from The SLEEP, and trying to work out where it had come from at the same time as avoiding being hit by the bolts of lightening the card was now throwing.

He cast a spell, trying to keep the ball of pure energy in place with a shield, but it was too fast for him and he narrowly avoided being singed.

He drew a card from Yugi's deck, hesitating as he looked around. He knew everyone was asleep, but this was dangerous enough as it was… he glanced at Sakura, who was on the phone to Kero, keeping track of where the ball of energy was going.

Why was it playing up now if it had been hiding all day? What had driven the card out of hiding?

"THUNDER!" Sakura shouted. "It's THUNDER."

Well they had a name for it now. That would make their life easier. Sakura had to know the true name of a card to be able to seal it, but they had to get this insane ball of energy to take its true form without getting anyone else hurt.

He summoned, calling the monster he thought had the greatest chance against the ball of lightening, his Rock-Gun, which had 1500 attack and 2000 defence points, which knocked over three empty tables in the process, but certainly distracted the lightening creature long enough for Yami to trap it in an unoccupied corner of the room.

"WINDY, WATERY…" Sakura sent out her strongest Clow Cards.

"Not WATERY!" Yami yelped, wheeling around, but it was too late, WINDY and WATERY had moved across the hall, going to attack THUNDER. Yami used a piece of unsavoury language that he'd heard Joey use, and threw up a barrier, in an attempt to stop the feed back when water hit electricity.

It mostly worked, it diffused the shock enough for it not to be too dangerous, and WINDY and WATERY did manage to force it into it's true form, but neither of them escaped unharmed, Sakura only just flew out of the way, ending up with frazzled hair but little else, while Yami's barrier fell the moment that the canine of lightening had escaped from the pair of Clow Cards and attacked the barrier directly, before shooting across the floor and attacking Yami, who just about threw up a shield in time, protecting himself from the worst of the attack, the shock still managing to send him flying, causing him to crash into a table where two people had fallen asleep, and sending all three of them sprawling.

His monster vanished.

For a minute or so, his body was completely unresponsive, he couldn't move and couldn't think of anything other then 'ow', then he pushed himself to his feet shaking badly from the electricity, rather glad THUNDER hadn't actually been trying to kill him, just scare him off, as Sakura darted around the tables and THUNDER approached slowly, growling low and fierce.

A bubble of pure shadows surrounded THUNDER, stopping it just before it reached a couple of unconscious Duellists.

"Yes, nice one Yugi!" Sakura cheered, slipping up, as Yugi's friends were prone to doing, not that Yami minded, and sealing the Clow Card away.

The storm outside faded away.

Yami frowned, looking around. "Come out, whoever you are!" He demanded.

"Yami?"

"That wasn't my bubble." Yami scowled, glowering at their surroundings.

One of the boys he'd knocked over groaned.

Yami quickly dismissed his barriers, moving away from the tables as people started to come around, sitting down heavily on one of the chairs over by their little group.

"What do you mean that wasn't your bubble? It felt like your magic!" Sakura hissed, noting that there were people close who were waking up.

"It wasn't mine. Same type of magic, but I didn't cast it."

"Are you alright?" Sakura asked, as the organisers started evacuating people, worried that the sudden bout of mass unconsciousness had been because of a gas leak or some other concern, becoming concerned when she realised how badly Yami had been affected.

"I'm ok." Yami replied, waving her concern off, taking a seat on the steps with the others, and relinquishing control to his hikari.

Yugi winced as he moved to a slightly more comfortable position, wondering what would happen now and thinking about how lucky an escape they'd had with THUNDER. Someone here had helped them.

Hopefully they were friend, rather then foe.

* * *

"I can't see or smell anything."

"We didn't before either. I don't think it's safe to let them back in."

"What should we do? Cancel the finals?"

"We don't have a choice."

He wasn't interested in this talk, the tournament itself held no interest for him, but he slipped out the open doors to where the Duellists were waiting on news.

The boy was still here. He looked pale, unsurprising considering everything, but he was still here, still conscious, still overflowing with magic.

"I'm sorry, we're sending everyone home." One of the organisers said to all the Duellists, to a collection of groans. "You may re-enter to collect your things, and we'll send information out when we have a new time and date to finish up."

"I've just got to go grab my bag." The boy looked at his friends.

"I picked it up for you." The normal seeming brunette girl smiled as the blonde helped him to his feet.

The other two girls showed the boy, 'Yugi', and the Star Mage that they'd quickly packed up their bags when they'd started evacuating people and brought them out with them.

"Guess we'll head home then." The boy nodded.

"We can give you a lift." The black haired girl offered, pulling out her phone, assumedly to call as car.

"Maybe you should get checked over." The Star Mage worried at the boy.

"I will do, if I still feel like this later on. I don't know if I should walk home though." Yugi nodded, "You don't mind, do you, Tomoyo?" He asked the black haired girl.

"I offered didn't I?"

Young or not, the boy couldn't escape again, he couldn't let him.

* * *

"Yugi?"

Yugi frowned and turned around, confused to find that one of the organisers had come to find him. "Yes?"

"I think we have something of yours inside," The organiser said, gesturing for Yugi to precede him inside.

Yugi frowned and he wasn't the only one, Joey spoke up. "I thought we grabbed everything…"

"A tin of sandwiches, with your name on?"

"I'll come and get it." Yugi nodded, "Give me a minute?" He asked the others, who nodded.

'_Yugi…'_ Yugi was startled to hear Yami's voice as he entered the building and headed for the main hall, where the Tournament had been held, wincing in anticipation of the headache that was sure to follow, but none came. _'I think it's a trick.'_

"_W…what do you mean?"_ Yugi asked, hesitantly, not used to speaking mind to mind and worried._ "The person from earlier?"_

'_May I take over?'_ Yami asked, having only risked talking over the link because of how urgent it was.

Yugi didn't have time to reply; the organiser grabbed Yugi and shoved him into a side room, shutting the door behind him.

Yugi would have wheeled around and tried to open the door, except for the fact that there was a rather tall man in a turban watching him.

"Who are you?" Yami was out in a heartbeat, demanding an answer in two. Sensing the magic that the man was no longer trying to hide, "And what do you want with me?"

"You hold something that is five thousand years old. I have come to test whether you are worthy of its power."

"The Puzzle is mine. I completed it." Yami said, speaking for Yugi, knowing exactly what this man was after, "You never gave me your name."

"My name is Shadi. I am the Guardian of the Millennium Items, including your Puzzle."

"And this test? What does it involve?" Yami asked, backing away slightly as Shadi stepped forward.

Before Yami could back away too far, Shadi had raised his Millennium Item and the Key like object had touched Yami's forehead.

Before Yami could react, he found himself in the place he considered the room of his soul.

He didn't like this.

He didn't like this at all.

He tried to hide Yugi's soul room, or at least close the door, but it wouldn't budge and Shadi's magic pierced through any spell he tried to cast.

He couldn't protect Yugi from the magic of another Millennium Item wielder…

There was something he could do though, as he pushed against the intrusion, unable to stop it, but delaying it long enough to do what was needed.

He grabbed Yugi, convincing him to stay hidden in one of the rooms in his labyrinth like mind and attempted to mask Yugi's magical and spiritual signature by allowing his own dark signature to flow freely. It wasn't enough, his darkness wasn't enough to hide Yugi's light, but it would be enough to confuse the intruder… or so he hoped.

If 'Shadi' took one step inside Yugi's room, if he dared do anything that would harm the boy that he shared a body with, Yami wouldn't show him any mercy. He'd sworn to protect Yugi, at least in his own mind he had, and no one, not even some 'guardian of the Millennium Items', would make him break his vow.

However, he was certain that Shadi would be far more interested in his mind, which was bound to the complexities of the Millennium Puzzle and had so many hidden secrets that Yami himself didn't even know a small portion of them.

He felt the arrival of the intruder, sensed him hesitate outside Yugi's door.

He sent out a wave of magic, not much, just enough to catch the intruder's attention.

Just as he had suspected, Shadi turned away from Yugi's room and entered his room uninvited.

Game Start…

* * *

Sakura froze when she sensed Yugi's magic flare up.

Something was wrong…

He had been right? Had there been someone else there?

"Sakura?" Tomoyo had looked up from the footage that she had recorded and was watching her intently.

"Yugi." Sakura explained.

Of course this explanation had Joey and Tea giving her a worried look too. "What's…?" Tea hesitated. There were too many people around to ask outright, but if Sakura could sense Yugi's magic, something was wrong.

Tomoyo watched the entrance, then moved over to the car and spoke with the head of her security detail. They didn't catch what she said, but the detail had gone up to the men who, since there was supposedly no one left in the building, were guarding the door.

There was a heated discussion for a moment, and then the men moved away, going around the corner and not coming back, giving them a chance to dive inside.

"Where?" Joey asked, watching Sakura, who considered for a moment, then headed towards the hall, turning away at the last minute and trying to open a door.

It opened inwards slightly, then a wave of purple energy something pushed it shut and knocked them backwards.

Sakura considered the door as they picked themselves up.

"Why would Yugi shut us out?" Tea asked nervously.

"I don't know if he is." Sakura replied slowly, "Yugi said that someone helped us earlier

"Key that hides the power of darkness, show your true form before me." Tomoyo wheeled around at Sakura's voice, "I, Sakura, command you under our contract, RELEASE!"

The key transformed, becoming her staff, which she used to call out The FIGHT.

"Sakura…what're you planning?" Tea asked nervously.

* * *

He'd never tested a mind like this before.

Two doors indicated two minds in one body.

The first room had been bright and plain with no shadows or alcoves to hide secrets. It would have indicated a simple mind, except that the toys that had made up the containers for the memories of that individual had ranged from rather simple toys to half finished chess games, puzzles that were being completed from the outside in and couple of card games that looked almost finished.

The mind that room belonged to was obviously sharp, but Shadi was unsurprised that such a young mind would have such a simple soul room. It was yet another sign of how young and unformed the child's mind was. In a few years the boy's soul room would change as the child made decisions that would affect the rest of his life, but for now it was just games and toys, surrounded by the blank soul room of an impressionable child.

He would have entered but what he'd sensed from the second room had distracted him.

Powerful dark magic radiated from the second room, though the door was closed.

Shadi opened the door to what appeared to be a tomb. The energies from this room were odd, both dark and light intermingled, but the mind this room belonged to had been waiting for him, had the audacity to test him, challenging him to his game…

This second mind had been as complex as the first had been plain.

He'd never seen a maze this complex, with every door leading to a trap or a new set of corridors. It was quite possible to enter a door right way up and leave it walking on the ceiling or along the wall.

And yet he wasn't certain that this was all fault of the second mind.

When he had challenged it, it had claimed that it had nothing to hide, even though Shadi had been able to tell that the second mind belonged to a spirit who had possessed the innocent child the first room belonged to and it had freely opened the rest of the room to him.

Either there was some level of the spirit's subconscious that didn't want him here, or there were things in the ghost's past that even he wasn't allowed to know. Both options were viable and neither were resolvable by talking to the spirit. If it was a subconscious thing, he wouldn't be able to control it.

The trick was to use his Millennium Items to hone in on the real secret of this room, and he was sure, as he was getting higher and further towards the centre, that he would soon find it.

He opened a door, taking a step in; convinced it was the right one.

Only to have to leap backwards to avoid being crushed by a falling pillar.

He had to wonder if the child the spirit was possessing would have such trouble getting around. Perhaps he would have been better off confronting the child in the real world before testing the boy's mind, but he was too far in to turn back now, and he wasn't convinced it had been the boy he had been dealing with in the outside world anyway.

There was only one door left on this corridor.

He opened it and entered, surprised to find that nothing happened.

Cautiously he looked around the room. It was dark and didn't have much in, but he could sense great power here.

He took a couple more steps forward.

The floor gave way underneath him.

With a yelp he grabbed onto the solid floor, trying to avoid falling into the darkness below him. If he fell, he would never escape. He would be trapped in this spirit's mind forever.

"Let me help."

Startled by the voice, Shadi looked up.

It was the child…

* * *

"Let me help."

Yugi had been hiding nervously behind a pillar on the other side of the room, following Yami's instructions to stay hidden and try to hide his magic, but he hadn't been able to stay hidden when he'd heard the man's yell, coming out from behind the pillar in time to see him fall. "Take my hand."

Shadi took the offered hand, unsure how this eight year old could possibly have the strength to help him, and was pleasantly surprised when the child managed to provide enough lift to let him pull himself up.

"That wasn't Yami's fault." Yugi defended his friend. "The floor groaned when I walked across it earlier."

"Who are you?" Shadi asked, trying to get things straight in his head. Was that what the child referred to the spirit as? It meant darkness, so it fit, considering that, now he was near the child, he could sense that the light had been coming from him, leaving the spirit's power firmly based in shadows and darkness.

"I'm Muto Yugi." Yugi replied, "Why are you here? This is Yami's mind."

'_I was speaking with the spirit earlier.' _Shadi confirmed to himself, even as he replied, "I am the Guardian of the Millennium Items."

"Like my Puzzle?" The boy asked innocently. Shadi couldn't detect any malice or hate in this boy, just wariness, confusion and a touch of protectiveness towards the spirit.

"That is correct." Shadi nodded. "It is my duty to test those who wield them in order to determine whether they are worthy of their power."

"Test?" The boy took a couple of steps back, realising almost instantly what Shadi meant.

"Yugi!" Yami entered, pulling Yugi behind him, glancing at him protectively before glowering at Shadi.

"It's okay; he hasn't done anything to me, Yami." Yugi's hand on Yami's reassured the Pharaoh slightly, and Shadi watched the interaction with interest.

"You're certain?" The powerful spirit asked the boy, confusing Shadi. How was it that this spirit, which was easily powerful enough to overwhelm this child and keep him a prisoner in his own mind, allowed the child free reign over where he roamed and acted as the child's guardian?

"Child, I owe you my thanks, but this test is not over." Shadi warned the boy, making the spirit irritated.

"You won't harm him, or I will make you regret it." Yami growled at him.

"My name's Yugi, not child." Yugi told Shadi with a small smile, "What is it you need to test, in order to decide if I am worthy of the Puzzle?" He asked, stepping out from behind his guardian, causing the spirit to give him a concerned look, but impressing Shadi. He had no fear of an unknown enemy, this was promising, even as it was a little worrying.

The child had already passed one test. If his mind had already been filled with darkness or the spirit had been controlling him, then Shadi would have taken the Puzzle from the child, freed the boy from it's influence, but instead Shadi now needed to find out the intentions of both the child and the spirit and test the child's strength against that of another Millennium Item.

"It is my duty to see that the Millennium Items go to the place they are destined to reach and test each wielder to see if they are worthy." He explained to the young child, still convinced that he was too young for the power that he carried, but knowing that now the Millennium Puzzle had chosen this boy, he would have to defeat him in order to take it. "You," He indicated the child, not convinced that the spirit had yet, but there was something tugging at the back of his mind on regards to that, "Have passed the trial of the mind, but I still need to test your heart and soul."

"And what will these tests entail?" Yugi asked, feeling a small amount of relief in knowing that he had somehow passed one test without knowing it.

"Two simple games. If you win, you will be free to go about your business, the Puzzle will stay with you, and I will not interfere again unless the balance changes."

"And if we should lose?" Yami interrupted.

"If the child should lose," And Shadi made an effort to point out that it was Yugi he was testing, "I will have to take the Puzzle."

"But Yugi would be unharmed?"

Shadi's hesitation caused Yami to growl, he would like to say yes, but the tests weren't proper tests unless he was pushing the child to destruction point, even now he could double back and use the Millennium Key to shape the child's soul into whatever he wanted, though he was reluctant to wipe such a young mind completely clean, as he would had to have done, would have to do, should the boy fail the tests.

Yugi held up a hand, though Shadi could see the nervousness in his eyes. He was surprised when the spirit responded to the child's tactic command. "Kero warned us that things would get dangerous when other Mages of our type appeared, remember?" He asked his Guardian.

The spirit nodded, but didn't take his eyes from Shadi, his look promising that if Yugi came to any harm, he would cause as much pain as he could before Shadi took the Puzzle.

"I'll play the other two games." Yugi told Shadi, "Do we play them here?" He asked, looking around quickly, before deciding that it wasn't really safe and turning back to the Guardian of the Millennium Items.

Shadi shook his head, the ankh shaped key that hung around his neck glowing brightly, and, when Yami finally blinked away the flash blindness, he realised that he was stood, facing Shadi, in the same room that Yugi had been shoved into before…

The door cracked with a loud thud, and with a second, Yami had to duck as it broke in two and shards flew into the room at around his head height. Shadi merely threw up a shield, which the shards bounced off of and looked unimpressed as The FIGHT darted into the room, followed by Sakura and Joey, Tomoyo and Tea hanging back in the doorway.

FIGHT moved between Yami and Shadi, glowering at the unknown and shielding Yami.

"You alright, Yuge?" Joey asked, glaring at Shadi.

"I'm ok." Yami nodded, wondering how this would affect the tests Shadi still intended on putting Yugi through.

Shadi was watching everything intently. "Yugi, you swore you'd play the other two games."

"And I will. I keep my word." Yami replied, "But you're to keep my friends out of it."

"Yugi, what's going on?" Sakura asked, noting Yami's defensive posture and his worried glance in her direction.

"I need you to stay back and trust me." Yami replied, "Please."

"He's like you, isn't he?" She asked, looking at Joey, who was giving them a confused look, before glancing from Yugi's Puzzle to Shadi's Key, "Your magic, it's the same type…"

"If you mean does he hold a Millennium Item, then yes, he's like me." Yami nodded.

'_I hold two actually.'_ Shadi couldn't help thinking but he said nothing as the spirit currently possessing the child tried to get the others to back off, and the children who were the child's friends refused to do so, in case he was in danger, which, in their defence, he was, but it made the spirit hesitant to start the next game.

He decided on his next move. He wanted to test Yugi here and now, but he needed time to prepare for the next stage of the trials so, temporarily at least, he would retreat. "Yugi."

The spirit possessing Yugi turned to him with a questioning look.

"The games are on hold, for now. I will face you again tomorrow evening, on the school roof. Ten o'clock. If you are not there or you try to run, I will come looking and your friends may get hurt." That was threat enough to get them to come to him.

"We won't run." Yami told him, with a low growl. "Ten o'clock, the roof of the school, we'll be there."

With a small nod, Shadi vanished.

Sakura squeaked as the barriers fell and Yami wheeled around, "Are you alright?" He asked both Joey and herself as she picked up The FIGHT.

"I'm okay." She nodded, watching Yami carefully. He seemed angry with her and she wasn't sure why.

He was all too aware that because of their interference, it was possible that he'd be walking into a trap tonight, but they had just been worried for Yugi…

"I don't want you coming with me tomorrow." He said, looking at all of them.

"Yami…" Tomoyo complained and half scolded. The spirit wasn't having any of it though.

"No, no 'Yami…' I don't want you there." He growled, "You saw how he turned FIGHT back into a card like that, it's too dangerous. We'll go, alone. Got it?"

"You can't be serious…" Joey protested.

"Quite serious." Yami replied, none of the usual warmth in his tone.

Yugi took over, "Please guys? I'll be fine, but we need to do this alone."

Tea tried to resist the urge to point out that he wouldn't be going alone, considering he had Yami, but nodded, promising Yugi that she wouldn't interfere.

"It's a bad idea, Yuge, but I'll stay back." Joey nodded.

Sakura frowned, disliking it, "I won't interfere with your games, Yugi."

"Me either." Tomoyo swore.

"Thanks guys." Yugi nodded, smiling slightly.

"Miss Daidoji?" The head of Tomoyo's security detail stuck her head in the doorway, "Are you finished?"

"Quite. Thank you." Tomoyo nodded to the woman, then turned to her friends, "Shall we?"

They nodded and followed her out.

Yugi hesitated in the doorway a little longer then was necessary, wondering if it had been a good idea to come after all, then followed his friends out, reassured by their promises not to come, and hoping that whatever Shadi had planned for tomorrow night, they could handle it.


	11. A hARROWing Night

"I still don't think this is a good idea."

It was nine o'clock at night and Yugi, who was preparing to leave for his rematch with Shadi, turned and smiled slightly, "Probably not." He agreed far too cheerfully for Joey's liking.

"And you're still going alone." The blonde eleven year old scowled.

"I'm not alone, I have Yami." Yugi pointed out.

"Still…"

"We'll be fine, Joey." Yugi sounded confident, but he didn't look it.

"I still think you should at least take Sakura."

"Shadi turned FIGHT back into a card with little trouble." Yugi shook his head, "You know how hard FIGHT was to contain, you fought her!"

Joey had to concede Yugi had a point. "Your mum's not going to like this. You're supposed to tell her when you go out at night."

"I know, I know." Yugi sighed, his head turning towards where he knew his mother would be, down in the living room. "But if I tell Mum, she'll insist on me taking someone or worse, she'll want to meet Shadi to see if he's a suitable teacher for me."

Joey sniggered at the thought of the guy in the turban from yesterday getting the once over from Yugi's mum. "Well he is a Shadow Mage."

"I know." Joey paused at Yugi's short phrase, looking at his friend properly. From the change in Yugi's voice, he was certain that he was now speaking to Yami, but he couldn't be sure in this light.

"Two games, then you'll be back, right?" He asked.

Yami or Yugi, he still wasn't sure, nodded.

"Try to make them quick, I don't know how long I can convince your mum that that," He indicated the pile of bedding that looked like a person, "Is you. Its hair's not spiky enough to start with…"

"Perhaps we should have borrowed CREATE." Was it Yami who chuckled? He thought it could be…

Joey just shrugged, having heard of CREATE but not actually seen it in action.

"We'll be back shortly." Yes, it was Yami; he'd caught a glimpse of red eyes.

"Be careful." Joey nodded.

"We will." Yami slipped out of the window, climbing carefully down the tree just outside. Joey watched him go, and then closed the window behind him, before sighing and sitting on his bed to wait.

When he'd run away from home after his mum had left and his dad had given him a black eye before vanishing for three days, he'd come to Yugi because he'd been hungry and unable to think of anywhere else to go.

He'd known about the magic even then, after all, he'd first met Yugi and the others while they were chasing FIGHT and Yugi had entered a 'Shadow Game' with those bullies within moments of meeting him, but still, he hadn't expected to be drawn into the magic that influenced Sakura and Yugi's lives as quickly as he had been.

The phone rang.

Joey froze as he watched Yugi's mobile vibrate across the table, the ringing getting more insistent the longer he left it.

Yugi hadn't taken his phone?

He caught it as it fell off the table and answered it quickly; half afraid Mrs Muto would come looking if it wasn't answered quickly. "Muto's phone, Wheeler speaking." He said, wondering how many people had Yugi's number.

"Hey Joey, has Yugi left yet?" It was Tomoyo.

"You just missed him." Joey responded, collapsing on his bed.

"I wanted to wish him good luck." Tomoyo sounded frustrated. "Wait, he left and you have his phone?"

"Uh huh."

"He really did want to go alone…"

"Apparently."

"Give me a call when Yugi gets back, please?" Tomoyo asked.

"No problem." Joey replied, nodding slightly without thinking.

"Thanks Joey." Tomoyo put the phone down and Joey sighed, lying back and staring at the ceiling.

The phone went again.

Joey, grimacing, picked it up. "Muto phone, Wheeler speaking."

"Hey Joey, Yugi gone yet?" It was Tea this time.

He went through the same rigmarole again, and was just about to get ready for bed when the phone went again.

"Hello?" He grumbled irritably at the person on the other end of the line.

"Joey, hey." Sakura sounded worried, "Are you with Yugi?"

"No, he slipped out about five minutes ago."

"You couldn't come out and give me a hand could you?" Sakura pleaded.

"What's the matter?"

"ARROW." Sakura replied, "It's heading towards the school and Yugi asked…"

"I can be at the park in five minutes if you can..." He cut off as she squeaked and released DASH.

"I'll try and lure it that way." Sakura sounded relieved, "Thanks."

"No problem." He got as far as 'No' before she put the phone down.

Well, he had no idea of how he was going to assist Sakura, but being asked, even as a backup assistant, certainly helped his mood, which had been steadily worsening as the evening had gone on, especially since Tea and Tomoyo hadn't really had much to say to him other then to enquire about Yugi.

And he had an excuse for why Yugi would be out of the house.

He rushed down the stairs, careful to make enough noise that he sounded like two people, blurted out, "We're going out, it's an emergency!" as he passed the living room and was out the front door and down the road and round the corner long before Yugi's Mum had reached the front door.

The only problem now, was that he'd have to wait until Yugi got home to go back in.

Or hope that Yugi didn't get home before him…

* * *

"We're here, Shadi."

Yami looked around the empty rooftop.

They were ten minutes early, but he'd half expected Shadi to have been waiting for them long before this.

"Shadi?" Yami demanded when he was no where in sight.

"I'm here." Shadi appeared from no where, startling Yugi and making Yami glower at him.

"I'm ready when you are." Yami stated, going to reassure Yugi, finding himself amused when he found Yugi had already calmed himself down and was ready and waiting.

Shadi looked bemused, then he did something that caused the Millennium Key to glow.

Yugi found himself in control. _"Yami?!"_

When there was no response, Yugi turned to Shadi with a frightened look.

"I warned you that these tests were for you only. Should you be victorious, I'll free the spirit of the Puzzle."

"What did you do?" Yugi demanded, trying to look calm and failing miserably, one hand holding the cord of the Puzzle.

"He's unharmed, I just locked his soul room." Shadi waved off Yugi's concern.

"And you'll free him if I win?"

"Indeed."

"Then I'll play." Yugi nodded, nervous now.

Shadi pulled out a set of scales with the Eye of Horus on them.

Yugi took a step back when he realised that this too was a Millennium Item.

"Running won't help you."

Yugi squeaked as something scaly wrapped around his wrists, claws digging into his arms, holding him in place, bad breath coming from behind, from a creature who game a rattling sound as it breathed, a dying gasp that had him trying not to breathe in, half worried that its breath was poisonous.

He could turn his head just enough to see that it was a crocodile like creature…

"That is Ammit, the personification of divine retribution for all the wrongs that humans have committed in life. The hearts of those who are heavy with wrongdoing and fail this test are fed to Ammit. Your soul will feed her well, if you lose this game of truth."

"I won't lose." Yugi's tone was one of bravado.

Shadi dropped a feather onto the scale. "This represents a feather from the wings of Ma'at, if your heart is heavier then this feather, you will die." He put it on the floor, in the middle of them. "Three questions will test your heart."

Yugi gulped but nodded.

"The first question. You come across another of great power, a threat to your own life if allowed to become your enemy. What do you do?"

This was easy; they had such an issue on a day to day basis with Sakura. "I make friends with them if possible and hope that we don't end up fighting one another if not."

Shadi was surprised, but maintained his composure when the scales remained even; having expected a different answer.

"Next question, a girl your own age has fallen into the river, her purse is on the bank full of cash, what do you do?"

"Help her." Yugi's answer was short, said without pause and most importantly, wasn't a lie.

Shadi was unsurprised when the scales remained balanced, considering what he had seen of the child now in the grasp of Ammit, but had had to ask, in case the boy's actions yesterday, when he had saved him, hadn't been a reflection of his true thoughts and feelings.

"Last question." Shadi said, watching the child who nodded shortly, still trying to contain a fear that was all too apparent. Obviously the child was less confident without the spirit around. "An enemy has attacked your family and friends to get to you; you have but two choices; fight and save them at the cost of your own life or flee and save your own hide at the cost of theirs. What do you chose?"

Yugi hesitated, unsure how to answer.

"You have to answer, child." Shadi frowned.

Yugi hissed and cringed in pain as Ammit's claws dug in further, drawing blood.

"You have five seconds, five, four, three…"

"I don't know." Yugi answered, "But I hope I would be strong enough to stand and fight. My friends are worth more then I am."

The scales stayed balanced.

Ammit disappeared.

* * *

"Duck!"

Joey, warned by Sakura's cry and sped up by DASH, ducked and rolled, narrowly avoiding being turned into a pin cushion by ARROW's arrow shaped energy bolts, which embedded themselves into the sign he was taking cover under, instead of in his back.

"You alright?" Sakura's scared voice reached him.

"Fine." Joey called back, as Sakura worked out that ARROW was now only a block from the school and watched Joey dart out from under the board, catching ARROW's attention again.

Joey blessed his good luck as he managed to dodge the arrows that the Clow Card shot in his direction...

"THUNDER!" Sakura bellowed.

The canine made from energy leapt at ARROW, who dodged and shot at it. Thunder merely absorbed the energy and leapt again.

ARROW changed tactics, dodging THUNDER and opening fire on Sakura.

Sakura flipped in midair, avoiding being shot herself, but forced to land when the wings created by FLY ended up with holes shot in them.

"Sakura!" Sakura squeaked as something went crashing into her, sending her sprawling, unaware that she'd nearly ended up a pin cushion. Getting to her feet quickly to find that Joey had already darted away, distracting ARROW, THUNDER running at his side.

She watched in surprise as ARROW opened fire and Joey, who hadn't stumbled once in the whole time she'd known him (and alright that hadn't been very long, but still...) suddenly tripped, catching himself before he hit the ground, but falling far enough that the arrows went straight over his head.

THUNDER wheeled around leaping at ARROW who only just managed to avoid the raging electrical beast, only to walk straight into a second lightening blast fired off by someone on one of the nearby rooftops.

"Return to the guise you were meant to be, Clow Card!" Sakura didn't waste any time, sealing ARROW in its card.

Joey watched as the card floated away from Sakura's staff, floated straight over his head and into the hands of the person on the rooftops. "Hey!"

The person started, looking at him for a moment or two and then jumped down behind the building.

Still powered up by DASH, Joey chased him.

* * *

Yugi shook his arms off, rubbing his wrists and staring in surprise at the places where the claws had dug in, when he found he wasn't bleeding anymore, and yet the pain was still there. "How?" He asked, looking up at Shadi.

"The wounds inflicted during these games are of the spirit, not the body." Shadi explained, ill amused by how little the child knew about the games that were a part of the magic that he played with on a regular basis.

"There's one more game?" Yugi asked, nodding his understanding, wondering how Yami was going to react if the Pharaoh was freed from the Puzzle only to find that he was injured from these games.

"That's correct." Shadi nodded.

Yugi yelped and leapt back as a tall, powerful looking fourteen year old appeared in front of him. "U...Ushio..." Yugi squeaked, stepping back further.

"The final test, the test of the soul." Shadi smirked, as the huge teen, who had bullied Yugi for years, stealing his lunch, taking any games Yugi had taken to school to sell or give to his ever expanding group, winning loyalties that would help him later in life, even stooping to physical assaults to get what he wanted when Yugi dared to try to stand up for himself, cracked his knuckles and approached Yugi menacingly.

"Yugi." Ushio smirked as he moved towards the eleven year old.

"Ushio." Yugi felt himself tense up at the all too familiar, rude, method of address, and had to fight the urge to follow old impulses and bow, knowing that Shadi was watching, analysing... testing...

"This isn't the real Ushio." Shadi explained as the fake bully circled Yugi, "He's a memory, summoned by the Shadows to test the strength of your soul and its ability to fight past fear. Defeat him and you win. I'll leave and the spirit of the Puzzle will be free."

"You can't beat me Yugi, you've never been able to stop me taking whatever I want." Ushio sniggered, "And if I'd known you had something as valuable as that," He indicated the Puzzle, "I would have taken it a long time ago."

"I won't let you have it." Yugi shook his head and grasped the chain that hung around his neck. He didn't want to fight, didn't want to hurt anyone, but he would not let Ushio take the Puzzle. It was too precious to him.

"Yugi, Yugi, Yugi," Ushio sounded amused by Yugi's defiance, "You don't have a choice." In a few steps he had crossed the distance between the two of them and had grabbed Yugi by the collar and lifted him off of the ground.

Yugi struggled in his grip, one hand on Ushio's arm, the other still on the chain, "Let me go."

Ushio grabbed the chain.

Yugi's grip tightened.

The eye of Horus on the Puzzle glowed brightly and, with a blast of purple light, Ushio was sent crashing into the fence that blocked off the edge of the roof, leaving Yugi stood there, confused as to what had just happened.

"Muto!" Now Ushio was pissed, and the look on his face caused Yugi to freeze in place, as he stomped forward.

"I told you, you can't have it!" Yugi backed up, feeling the power respond to his emotions again.

This time, instead of causing Ushio to go flying, the light that appeared solidified into a monster from the card game, who threatened Ushio with his staff.

Yugi knew this creature, didn't know how he'd called it, but he knew this creature.

The Dark Magician, one of the strongest monsters in his Grandfather's Magic and Wizards deck, stood facing down Yugi's most feared bully.

"I'm not afraid of some trick!" Ushio snorted, moving around the monster.

Yugi didn't know how he'd done it, and he felt sick through and through, as though the appearance of the Dark Magician heralded some illness that sapped his strength, created the worst headache he'd ever felt and made his stomach feel like it was being ripped out, but he cringed into the side of his Grandfather's monster without thinking when Ushio went to take a swipe at him.

The Dark Magician took that as a signal to attack, blasting the thug with a ball of black magic.

While Yugi didn't see the fake Ushio disintegrate into tiny little pieces, the thug's agonised bellow made him cringe and would haunt him for months.

The Dark Magician pulled away from the small Shadow Wielder, examining him properly, raising his staff once again, preparing at strike again.

"No!" Yugi shook his head, feeling too sick to be scared anymore, "Please. Don't attack."

Shadi watched as the Dark Magician considered Yugi a few moments longer, lowered his staff, bowed and vanished, taking the last of Yugi's strength with him.

Fortunately, it was at that exact moment, when the game ended, that the bonds holding Yami's soul room door closed snapped and the Pharaoh seized control with an outraged bellow, "SHADI!"

Shadi was watching him closely. "Your host passed the trials."

Yami was bristling with barely controlled anger. Yugi had passed, but he was unconscious, whatever Shadi had done to him... if it caused any long term damage... "Then you'll leave us alone?"

"For now. I will return when the time is right, but do not worry; I will not test the boy again."

"Leave Tomoeda and don't come back." Yami growled warningly.

Shadi looked amused, and disappeared on the spot.

Yami snarled and examined the roof carefully, but the 'Guardian of the Millennium Items' was gone.

His anger broke when lightening spiked down from a clear sky, landing somewhere around a block away from the school.

Yugi was out of action, but it looked like Sakura was fighting a Clow Card, though he didn't remember THUNDER calling down lightening strikes like that... causing storms, yes, but...

Perhaps they weren't the only ones having trouble...

He wanted to check on Yugi, but if Sakura was fighting, it wasn't safe to leave Yugi's body unattended and he knew Yugi would never forgive him if he didn't help.

He darted down the stairs.

* * *

"Oi!"

The kid in the green robes who had called the lightening froze as Joey got in front of him.

"Where do you think you're going? That card belongs to Sakura." Joey growled.

The Cardcaptor in question arrived moments later, her staff still active, and had to pause to catch her breath. "Joey? Is this?"

"He's the one." Joey nodded, as DASH finally wore off, leaving the blonde feeling tired.

"I'm Li Shaoran." The kid said, glowering at Joey, then Sakura in turn. "The Clow Cards rightfully belong to me!"

"I think you're mistaken." Joey froze at Yami's irritable tone and realised they were just outside the school gates, "The Clow Cards are Sakura's. She released them and it's her duty to collect them all."

Li gave Yami, who was leaning against the wall, looking pissed off, a look that, if it could have killed someone who was already just a spirit possessing someone, would have done. "There's one here too?" He growled, launching an attack on Yami, who had just enough magical energy, after spending most of it trying to break through to Yugi, to put up a protective shield.

A second later, FIGHT was standing between Yami and Li and scowling at the green robed eleven year old. "What do you mean, there's one here too?" Sakura demanded.

"And what gives you the right to claim the Clow Cards as your own, when Sakura's been chosen by the Guardian of the Seal?" Yami followed up with a question of his own.

"The Li family are direct descendants of Clow Reed, the Clow Cards are mine. They're mine by rights, as the last male heir of that line." Li growled, "I should be the one to hold the Clow Cards! I'm the one who needs them to defeat someone like you!" He glowered at Yami.

"Defeat someone like me?" Yami asked, concerned and interested at the same time. Was it Shadi?

"A Mage! With an item like the one that hangs around your neck!" Li scowled, pointing at the Puzzle, "He attacked my family! He put all of them in comas!"

"What?" Sakura's eyes widened and she looked at Yami in shock, wondering if, he too, had that sort of power.

"What sort of Millennium Item did they have?" Joey asked, warily eyeing the Puzzle, relaxed slightly by the knowledge that it was his friend wielding the powerful item.

"How did you escape his attack?" That was what Yami was more interested. Especially if it was something he could use to protect Yugi...

"An eye with that symbol on." Li grumbled, "It reads minds."

It wasn't Shadi then...

"How...?" Sakura asked, biting her lip, wondering how Li had gotten away, and how much of a chance she'd stand against Yugi and Yami if they ever turned on them, not that she thought they would...

"I wasn't home when he attacked. That's why I'm still here." Li answered her unfinished question.

"Give ARROW to Sakura and we'll help you." Yami said, acting tough but too tired to back it up if Li chose to ignore him.

"I'd never trust a Shadow Wielder." Li growled at him. "I will capture all the Clow Cards." He warned Sakura, "And I won't need your help to do it."

"Li..." Sakura's soft tone conveyed her nervousness and concern.

The eleven year old in question gave Yami one last dirty look, then ran off, darting past Joey, who couldn't quite catch him as he passed, and down the nearest alleyway.

"Joey..." Joey went to go after him, only to stop when Sakura called him, turning around to find FIGHT had vanished, Sakura had sank onto the curb stones, her staff turned back into her key, looking half asleep, probably due to the amount of Clow Cards she'd called in such a short space of time, while Yami had slipped down the wall he'd been leant against and looked like he'd fallen asleep where he sat.

"You ok?" Joey asked the Cardcaptor as he checked to see if Yami was actually asleep or just looked it.

"I… don't know." Sakura admitted, thinking heavily about what Li had said.

"Sakura…" Yami started, opening his eyes with effort, then trailed off.

"You won, right?" She shook her head, knowing that she wanted to discuss this new guy with Kero and think things over properly before she even broached the subject with Yugi and Yami.

"Yeah." Yami nodded.

"That's good." Sakura said as Joey gave the spirit a hand to his feet, then offered her a hand up.

They walked in awkward silence for a while, pausing outside Sakura's house for a moment or two before, "Talk tomorrow?" She asked.

"I think we need to." Yami gave her a tiny, reassuring, smile.

"Alright. See you tomorrow." She nodded, and slipped inside.

"Our turn." Yami said, heading for his own house.

"Yami," Joey grabbed his shoulder to stop him, letting go when Yami flinched, "Can you really put people into comas?"

"I don't know." Yami admitted. "Can we not talk about it till Yugi wakes up?"

"He's asleep? I thought you two were playing games with that Shadi guy." Joey frowned.

"Yugi played the games, Shadi did something that stopped me from helping." Yami growled, still annoyed by that. "He won, but he's exhausted." He didn't admit that Yugi had been unconscious before he'd been freed.

"Before school then?" Joey asked, nodding his understanding, even as he wondered how Shadi had managed to stop Yami from helping Yugi.

"Alright." Yami nodded.

Joey snorted, knowing that Yami was probably as worried about the news of a Shadow Wielder who could cause comas as they were, "Come on." He gave the spirit a bit more support, "Let's get you two home. The sooner you get there, the sooner you can sleep."

"Joey…"

"Yes, Yami?"

"Thank you."

"You're welcome."

* * *

"Sakura?" Kero asked, worried, as Sakura sank onto her bed and stared blankly at the ceiling, without writing her name on the new card or changing her outfit or anything. He'd never felt her magic reserve so low before… had something worse then the Aquarium incident happened?

Sakura didn't reply for a moment or two, then she rolled over to face the wall and asked, "Am I really the one meant to hold the Clow Cards?"

"What's brought this up?" Kero asked, floating over to the other side of the bed, so he could look her in the face, "I'm the one who decides who's worthy to be the next Master for the cards, and I've picked you." Kero frowned as a thought occurred to him, "What happened? Did Yugi's opponent try and claim them or something?"

"No, no," Sakura shook her head, "There was a boy, Li Shaoron, who claimed to be descended from Clow Reed. He said he needed the Clow Cards…"

"If he's really of the Li clan, he may believe that the cards should be his, but I chose you. You're the only one who can use the Key, or seal the rogue spirits back into their cards." Kero reassured her, "Did he say why he needed them?"

Sakura hesitated.

"What?" Kero growled slightly, taking a tone he didn't use very often when dealing with Sakura but when he did pried answers from her.

"The Li clan, they were attacked, by a really powerful mage, I think he's the only one that escaped."

Kero hissed, thinking of the power it would take to overwhelm the entire family, and kicked the blanket. "And he wants the Clow Cards to take revenge…" Kero's eyes would have widened as the thought that Li's prescience here could bring the attacker here, to Tomoeda, "Did he mention what type of mage attacked his home?"

"Yes…"

"And?" Kero asked, needing the information, so he could warn his two charges about possible dangers, just in case.

"He said they have a Millennium Item, like Yugi."

"A Millennium Item?!" Kero demanded, this wasn't good.

"An eye." Sakura nodded, "With Shadow powers and it reads mind. He didn't like Yami very much because of it."

"An eye… so it wasn't the guy Yugi fought today." Kero scowled, if it was more Shadow magic, then there wasn't much he could do about it, "Did Yami know anything? Or the guy they were fighting?"

"I don't know. Yami was exhausted and I don't know what happened to their opponent, the games were over by the time I got there."

Kero growled slightly, "If Yami was exhausted, he'll be asleep by now and we won't get any sense out of him. Go to sleep, we'll think on this tomorrow, ok?" Kero took off, and floated over to the desk, not tired, but knowing Sakura was.

The Cardcaptor nodded, pulling herself out of bed and getting changed into her pyjamas.

"Kero?" Sakura's quiet question went almost unheard.

"Yes, Sakura?" Kero asked, wondering if there was something she hadn't told him.

"Do you think Shadow magic can cause comas?" She asked, pausing in her efforts to pull her top over her head.

"It might be possible. Did the kid say something?" Kero asked, wishing he knew more about that particular strain of magic.

"He said the attacker put his entire family in comas…" Sakura finished hesitantly, finishing getting changed and clambering into bed.

Kero watched Sakura, toss and turn for a moment. "Yugi wouldn't let anything like that happen. Besides you're the Cardcaptor, you can stand up for yourself, right?" Kero tried to be reassuring.

When Sakura didn't reply, Kero gave her a reassuring look, only to find that Sakura's tiredness had caught up to her and she was fast asleep.

Kero felt a bit like a failure. He'd known that if one mage found them, it was likely there would be others, but he'd expected to be able to teach his two charges for much longer then just a month and a half before trouble descended…

Kero paused in confusion, before tapping Sakura on the shoulder.

The Cardcaptor opened one eye and looked at him blearily, "Huh?"

"What happened to ARROW?"

"Li has it." Sakura replied, before falling asleep again.

Seeing that he wasn't going to get any more information from her tonight he floated over to his 'bedroom' in the bottom drawer of the desk, and curled up on his bed.

Sleep was a long time coming.

* * *

"Muto Yugi! Wheeler Joseph!"

Joey cringed as they stepped through the door, only to find a rather aggravated Ms Muto waiting for them.

"I'm sorry mum." Yami apologised on Yugi's behalf.

"Next time I want a little more information then 'it's an emergency' before you leave the house." She said, not happy in the slightest, "Now go to your room before I ground the pair of you."

"Sorry Muto-San." Joey apologised and watched, with relief as Yami took himself upstairs without too much effort.

"Wheeler-Kun, is everyone alright?" Kaiya asked the blonde she'd taken in, concerned, considering that Yugi was normally willing to stop and talk about what had happened, "No one's hurt, are they?"

"None of us are hurt, but we ran into another mage like Sakura." Joey explained, "And what he said left us all thinking about stuff."

"Like what?"

"Clow Cards and things." Joey was deliberately vague.

Kaiya frowned and would have called him on it if the eleven year old hadn't looked half asleep.

"Go to bed. I'll speak to you tomorrow."

"Yes Muto-San." Joey nodded and headed up.

When he reached the bedroom, Yami was already asleep.

Guess Ms Muto wasn't the only one not getting answers tonight…

* * *

**Author Note: - Sorry for the long delay, I was having a few issues with getting this chapter out. Hope you enjoy...**


	12. SHIELD and SWORD

The next morning Joey was woken up by Yugi's mother, who shooed Aiko out of the room and poked Joey, who sat up and blinked at her blearily as she moved over to wake her son, when he didn't respond to being poked, she shook him lightly.

"Mum?" Yugi asked, half opening his eyes, confusion reigning as she moved back and let him sit up slowly. "Morning." He said as he took in the fact he was in his bedroom.

"Are you alright?" Kaiya asked, concerned for her son, who seemed a little dazed.

"Just tired." Yugi said, blinking at the alarm clock, which said 5:30, and wondering why his mother had woken them before Aiko could.

"What happened last night?" His mother asked as she pulled out a set of clean school clothes and passed them to her son, who was pulling himself out of bed slowly and had put the Millennium Puzzle on already.

Yugi's eyes darted to Joey, who had pulled himself out bed and had been picking up his clothes. "There was a Clow Card," Joey caught the look and interjected, "It was called The ARROW. It was an offensive card, so we had to catch it as quickly as possible, before someone got hurt, otherwise we would have told you where we were going."

Kaiya frowned and looked at her son, "You're not injured are you?" She asked, concerned that that might be the reason.

"No," Yugi shook his head, noting that Yami was fast asleep still, "ARROW didn't touch me." He paused at the look from his mother, "Honest. I just used up a lot of magic last night, more then I usually do, so I'm still tired."

Kaiya sighed, "You're sure you're alright?"

"I'm ok." Yugi nodded, "I'm just…" The last word was interrupted by a yawn, but his mother got the idea.

"And the Clow Card?"

"Sakura sealed it." Joey shrugged, being deliberately vague. Kaiya frowned slightly but didn't say anything and Yugi was too tired to catch it.

"Have a quick wash, then I need to take the pair of you to school early." Kaiya urged the pair of them towards the bathroom.

"The pair of us?" Joey asked with a frown. "But I don't go to..."

"School is compulsory," Kaiya chuckled at the blonde's complaint, "If you're staying here, you have to go to school. I could get into a lot of trouble otherwise. At least you'll be in the same school as Yugi, right?"

"I suppose." Joey sulked.

"I'll be back in a minute." Kaiya told them, "I want you washed and dressed by the time I get back, okay?"

"Yes Mutou-San." Joey nodded.

"Yes Mum." Yugi nodded, waiting until the bathroom door was shut before turning to Joey, "How did I get back to the house?" He whispered, "Last thing I remember was passing out on the school roof."

"Yami got you home." Joey filled in, "But I need to fill you in on something that happened last night."

"ARROW." Yugi nodded, "Is that why Yami's so tired?"

"Dunno. Yami didn't really do much." Joey shrugged, "We fought ARROW before we got to the school. Sakura sealed ARROW but it was another mage who defeated it. He took the card."

"Another mage?" Yugi yelped, then looked at the door, quickly washed and got dressed, then turned back to Joey and whispered, "Are you alright? He didn't hurt you did he?"

Joey snorted, "We're fine. He nearly took a chunk out of Yami though. " Joey washed his own face and pulled his t-shirt on.

"Why?" Yugi's hand went to his Puzzle as Joey got dressed.

Joey didn't get to answer his question or ask any more of his own as Yugi's mum knocked on the door. "You ready boys?"

"Tell me more later?" Yugi whispered to Joey.

"As long as you tell me what happened with the games." The blonde nodded.

"Deal." Yugi nodded and then opened the door. "Ready."

**LINE_RECOGNITION_HAS_GONE_AGAIN**

Joey wasn't the only new student starting at Tomoeda Elementary that morning.

Li Syaoran had joined their class as well and had spent the greater majority of the morning glowering at Yugi and Sakura.

Not that Yugi seemed to be aware of Li's dislike, the eleven year old was having trouble staying awake, yet alone paying attention to Terada-Sensei or noticing anything else.

"Yugi?" Sakura asked, after they'd finished their lunches and checked no one was around to hear her, letting Kero out of her bag as she did so, "What happened last night?"

Yugi, who'd put the Puzzle on the moment they'd settled under the cherry blossom tree, and poked Yami, who protested for a moment then Yugi had a feeling, like Yami was stretching and paying attention to what was going on around him, before answering, "I played Shadi's games. That's about all I remember."

"What do you mean?" Sakura looked confused, a lot more had happened last night...

"Yami couldn't play the games; Yugi had to do it on his own." Joey explained, remembering what Yami had said last night, "Yugi wasn't awake for the thing with Li."

"The new guy?" Yugi looked confused. "What about him?"

"He's a descendant of the mage who made the Clow Cards." Sakura told him. "He can call the elements. We ran into him when we fought ARROW last night. I sealed it but it went to Li, because he defeated it."

"He gave it back though, right?" Yugi asked, biting his lower lip.

Sakura shook her head. "He claims that the Clow Cards are his right. He wants them."

"Why?" Yugi paused, frowning slightly, "What could be so important?"

"Yuge..." Joey sighed, trying to ignore the look he was getting for shortening Yugi's name, "His family were attacked."

Yugi blanched slightly, "By who?"

"By a Shadow Mage." Joey continued, noting the way the boy started. Obviously Yami hadn't told him when Yugi had been wearing the Puzzle between getting to school early, getting Joey's uniform and class starting.

"Oh." Yugi blanched further, "Are they alright?"

The silence told Yugi volumes and hung heavily in the air.

"Was it Shadi?" Yugi asked quietly.

"The guy had a 'Millennium Eye'. It reads minds." Joey shook his head as Yami sent a negative over the link. "He used it to put them in comas."

Silence again.

Yugi didn't really know what to say. There wasn't really much he could say. He didn't know enough about his type of magic to suggest anything that might help and Yami wasn't much better.

"You did win, right?" Kero asked, breaking the silence, "Last night, I mean."

"Yeah. Both games." Yugi nodded, thinking about how he'd won the second game. "At least I think so, I passed out when the Dark Magician left, but I'd completed Shadi's task so..."

"Dark Magician?" Tomoyo asked, which of course left Yugi to explain about the Duel Monster.

Sakura started off paying attention but got distracted when she noticed Li was hanging around, watching them. She clutched her bag tighter, thinking of the captured Clow Cards within.

"Ignore him." Sakura started slightly at Yami's tone, turning to look at Yugi only to find the Pharaoh had borrowed control for a moment. "He's probably trying to psyche you out."

"Yami, hi." Sakura nodded respectfully, "Are you alright? You were exhausted last night..."

"I'm ok. I used a lot of my magic trying to break through the barrier Shadi put between Yugi and I." Yami shrugged, "Thank you for protecting me last night."

"You're welcome." Sakura smiled, blushing slightly, having not heard a 'thank you' from the Pharaoh before. She'd gotten one from Yugi on multiple occasions, but never from Yami.

The lunch bell cut off any further conversation.

Yami relinquished control to Yugi as his friends headed inside, and the hikari took the Puzzle off and shoved it back in his backpack.

Or would have done had Li not darted forwards and seized it from him, causing Yugi to scramble to his feet, glaring at the boy as he tried to snatch it back. "Give that back!"

"Why should I?" Li demanded. "Why should I let you corrupt the cards any further?"

"Corrupt the... I don't know what you're talking about!" Yugi protested, "I haven't done anything to the Clow Cards!"

Before Li could respond, someone had climbed the fence, snatched the Puzzle from Li's hand and gotten between the two boys.

"It's not nice to take something that doesn't belong to you." Toya scowled, having vaulted the fence when he'd seen the kid take the Puzzle, and handed the Item back to Yugi, who put it on quickly, switching with a rather miffed Yami.

"Get out of my way." Li snapped back angrily.

"Now now," Yukito joined his best friend on the Elementary school grounds, interrupting what was sure to be an interesting argument, "There's no need to fight..."

For some obscure reason, Li went bright red, stammered something and darted off.

"You alright, Mutou?" Toya asked, glancing at the Puzzle and noting the way Yugi cradled it protectively.

"I'm ok." Yami nodded, forcing his temper down and letting Yugi take over so he could calm down.

"Thanks, Kinomoto-San." Yugi bowed, trying to calm his own nerves, feeling rather foolish for letting the Puzzle slip out of his hands.

Toya just waved him off and Yugi darted inside, hoping he wasn't too late to class.

**LINE_RECOGNTION_HAS_GONE_AGAIN**

"You were lucky." Joey complimented Yugi as the five of them headed for the little toy shop that sold the latest fads, "Back home they would have given us detention if we were even two minutes late, yet alone five."

Yugi, who was still tired from yesterday and had a headache because Yami was trying to keep himself awake due to Li's earlier actions, in case of a repeat, just shrugged, wanting nothing more than to go home, "I suppose they let Li and me off, because he's new and I looked nervous."

Nervous wasn't the word Joey would have used, and, after hearing what Li had done at lunch time was keeping an eye out for the Chinese mage.

"We won't be long." Tea promised, having not missed the fact Yugi had been falling asleep all day. "But I know you wanted to get some..." She trailed off as they reached the shop and spotted the cute little brooches in the window.

Two of their classmates, Rika and Chiharu, where already there. They were giggling and squeeing over the badges they had purchased, a cheerleader's baton and a tiny sword, which they showed to the girls, who immediately wanted their own.

Joey rolled his eyes and Yugi chuckled as he purchased five booster packs with his saved up pocket money and passed two to Joey. They opened them carefully, looking through the cards as the girls decided.

The three girls finally picked one each; Tea taking a ballet shoe shaped badge, Tomoyo taking a brooch shaped like a cat and Sakura taking a badge that was shaped like the wing insignia that adorned a lot of her costumes and clothes.

The boys walked slightly ahead of the group of girls, comparing cards, half tempted to go on ahead as the girls giggled about something or other that they had no interest in, and though they turned to bid farewell to Chiharu, they had no idea that something was happening until Sakura yelped.

Yami took control and blocked the sword which had, somehow, appeared in Rika's hand, with a Legendary Sword he'd called from a card that Yugi had picked up earlier, using up energy he could ill afford to use.

Luckily for him, Sakura called her staff and interposed herself in the fighting just in time to protect him from a blow that had gone under his guard and had been arcing towards his unprotected midriff.

Joey pulled Yami aside as Rika, possessed by The SWORD if Kero was right, fought viciously, sending Sakura backwards. Tired or not, the Pharaoh would have stepped forward again to help her, except that Joey had already taken the sword from his hands and done just that.

As good a fighter as he was, Joey wasn't a swordsman and was losing badly until he got a lucky shot in that knocked the girl down, giving Sakura a shot at disarming her.

Sakura did so and sealed The SWORD away.

Joey yelped in surprise as the Legendary Sword he'd been holding disappeared almost instantly and Yugi sat down heavily.

"You ok, Yuge?" The blonde asked before cringing slightly, remembering he was talking to the Pharaoh from the Puzzle, not the boy whose room he shared.

"I'm ok." Yami attempted to wave his concern off, concerned that he hadn't had enough energy to keep the Legendary Sword 'in play' and had had to use Yugi's to keep Joey armed, meaning the light had fallen asleep and Yami didn't have enough energy to switch and let one of them stay awake.

Simply put between last night and today's events, they had nothing left.

"If you're too tired to come over..." Tomoyo bit her lower lip, as Joey gave Yami a hand to his feet, wondering how much she should push it. It was only a small problem, in fact if she hadn't been convinced that a Clow Card was to blame, she wouldn't have even asked Sakura to help her deal with it, she was, after all, perfectly capable of dealing with non magical problems herself.

"Sorry. Last night took a lot out of us." Yami apologised, feeling more than a bit useless and considerably guilty.

"And Li didn't help." Sakura nodded, understanding.

"No. He didn't." Yami's tone made Tea wince and Joey chuckle.

"Someone's grouchy." Joey grinned, amused by Yami's mood. "I think someone missed their afternoon nap." He teased, deciding he could get away with it because Yami was too tired to do anything to him and he was sure that Yugi wouldn't let the King get revenge later.

The Pharaoh objected to being treated like a five year old, especially by someone over five thousand years his junior, but since he couldn't deny that sleep was needed and soon, he let Joey get away with it this once. "I apologise, Tomoyo." The Pharaoh half-bowed, making the video wiz blush, "But I don't think I would be much use to you as I am."

"You sure you're alright?" Tea asked, not oblivious to the fact that Yami had yet to switch back.

"I'm fine." Yami promised as they headed back to Yugi's place, but didn't say much else, prompting Tomoyo to start up a conversation with Sakura in order to fill the silence. It wasn't they disliked Yami and they had, in fact, over the last couple of weeks, almost gotten used to the fact that Yugi was possessed. With everything else that was going on in their lives, it was just one more weird thing to add to the ever expanding list of weirdness, however it was true that they weren't sure how to treat the former Pharaoh.

Tea did have one question she just had to ask him though, which she did just a couple of houses down from Yugi's. "Do you mind when we call you Yugi?"

Yami paused before answering, having never really considered it. He'd answered to Yugi easily before CHANGE had separated him and his hikari for a short period of time and, though the separation had finally allowed them to talk face to face, there were times when they did act and think as one. On that note Yami had his answer, "No, Tea, I don't mind." The Pharaoh said as they reached his front gate, "This is his body after all, and a lot of the time, when we act nowadays, we're working as one anyway…"

Except last night but that had been Shadi's fault.

"So you're ok if we treat you and Yugi the same way?" Joey asked, having wondered much the same thing himself, especially considering that he was going to be living with Yugi for the foreseeable future, until Mutou Kaiya found his mother at least. "I mean, I'm not going to forget you're you, but I don't need to treat you like an Emperor or something, right?"

Yami smiled slightly, though his emotions were sliding all over the place behind the mask he showed to Yugi's friends, "No Joey, it is fine if you treat me the same way you treat Yugi. All of you are good friends to him."

Just as he hoped to become to them, but he left that unspoken. He was, after all, five thousand years, or more, older than the children and he didn't expect them to treat him like a friend, when he was, in fact, dead. Just Yugi's acceptance of and trust in him was enough for the former Pharaoh.

"Now if you don't mind." Yami pulled Yugi's house keys out of his pocket.

"We'll see you tomorrow." Tea nodded, the others following her lead, other than Joey.

"Later, Yams." He nodded to the Pharaoh, half wishing he could stay at Yugi's house as he didn't know the girls very well. He had promised to go however and, unlike Yami, didn't have a good excuse to duck out.

Yami gave Joey a confused look, which gave way to an amused smile, "Later Joey, good day girls." With that the Pharaoh ducked inside.

"Yams?" Tomoyo chuckled, amused as they headed for her house.

"What? He needs a nickname if he's gonna be treated the same as Yuge." Joey shrugged, confused as to why Tomoyo found it so funny.

"Do you know what a yam is?" The girl asked, still smiling broadly.

"A Pharaoh from ancient Egypt?" Joey replied, confused.

"No, Joey. Well yes now, but a yam is a type of vegetable, a bit like a sweet potato."

"Oh." The look on Joey's face was enough to set the other two girls off as the boy wondered if he could get Yugi to avoid telling his dark what a yam was, since Yami, apparently, had no clue.

It took Sakura and Tea a few moments to calm down, but once they had, Sakura turned to Tomoyo. "So what was it you were saying before class about a Clow Card?" She asked, having meant to ask at lunch time but having been distracted by Li.

"I think there's one in my house." Tomoyo nodded, having wondered when someone would bring it up, since everyone had been rather distracted all day, "My mum has a box that holds her most precious items in, and there's something in there she wanted to show you," She looked at Sakura, who blushed, "The thing is we have the key but every time we try and open the box the key slides right off the lock."

"Slides off?" Joey frowned, "You sure you've got the right key?"

"It's the right key, it's just there's something shimmery protecting the lock. I'm just glad Mum hasn't noticed it."

"Something shimmery?" Tea asked, wondering what it could be. There was a muffled sound from Sakura's backpack that sounded suspiciously like Kero, but they couldn't hear what he said properly.

"I think the peanut gallery has something to say." Joey commented with a small grin as Sakura glanced around, took off her backpack and opened it enough for Kero to stick his head out.

"Peanut gallery?" Kero glared at the blonde, who just chuckled at him. "No respect." The Guardian of the Clow Cards complained.

"Sorry, Kero." Tea apologised for Joey, giving the blonde a dirty look and getting a grin in return, "What was it you were trying to say?"

"What Tomoyo is describing sounds the SHEILD card. It was designed to protect important or magical objects." Kero explained, keeping a sharp lookout for anyone else on the streets, glad that they'd finally reached the quiet roads around Tomoyo's, rather large, house. "It's a defensive card, so you shouldn't have any trouble with it, especially now you have SWORD."

"What were you doing during that fight?" Tomoyo asked, suddenly aware that Kero hadn't been out of Sakura's bag since lunch.

"I would have suggested something but I was a bit busy being squashed by school books and lunch boxes." The teddy bear replied grouchily, "Not that…" He stopped and ducked into the bag as someone walked out of a shop behind them.

"Of course the real question," Joey startled the girls by saying, talking as if he was continuing a conversation they'd been having before hand, "Is why they like you so much." He said, looking at Tomoyo.

"Oh, it's not just me." Tomoyo chuckled, as they reached the "Hana liked Tea and…" The man who'd been behind them went into a house, "BUBBLE liked everyone. The only one that the Clow Cards tend to avoid is Yugi."

"Hana?" Joey asked, amused.

"FLOWER showed up at my dance recital." Tea informed him, having been rather irritated at the time. "And flooded the stage with roses. Pink ones."

"How big was the stage?" Joey asked as they headed inside.

"Think of Yugi's room. Then double it in length." Tomoyo advised as she guided them to her room and got the box, putting it on the table as the others closed the door behind them and sat down.

"That's a lot of roses." Joey's tone was one of awe at the thought.

"And we had to move all of them by hand." Sakura nodded as Kero clambered out of her backpack and examined the box. "We had a lot of help though from Toya and the other stage hands."

"Does your brother work everywhere?" Joey asked, catching Kero when the bear attempted to slap the box and the recoil sent him flying off the table. The blonde had heard that Toya worked in the Aquarium, at the library, in a toy shop and now, apparently, he worked back stage at the dance school where Tea studied.

"He just does part time work wherever he can get it." Sakura shrugged, turning her attention to the shield that had formed around the box and slipping the ribbon attached to the Key of Clow over her head. "SWORD, you said?" She asked Kero, who nodded.

"Isn't that dangerous?" Tea asked as Sakura called her staff, thinking of the battle earlier, "I mean SWORD possessed Rika…"

"It belongs to Sakura now." Kero's tone was dismissive, as if the thought shouldn't have even crossed Tea's head, aggravating the girl. "It won't happen."

"Positive." Kero nodded. "See?" He indicated the Cardcaptor as her staff transformed into the sword Rika had been wielding earlier and brought it down on the glittering bubble of blue, white and green, causing it to part in the middle and causing it to return to its true form, a huge pure white wing with a red jewel embedded into it on a gold shield.

"Return to the guise you were meant to be." Sakura told it, SHEILD shifted slightly to the right, attempting to float away then it converted into a card and floated into Sakura's hand.

"That's another two." Tea grinned as Tomoyo attempted to open the box and let out a relieved sigh when it opened without a hitch.

"How many are there in total, again?" Joey asked as the box opened to reveal a bunch of dried flowers.

"There's fifty two in total and Sakura has…" Kero cut off and ducked under a cushion and Sakura hid her sword under the sofa, as Daidoji Sonomi, Tomoyo's mother, entered the room with a tray of cakes, smiling delight when she saw the box was open.

"How did you lot manage it?" She asked, taking the bouquet out carefully.

"There was something stuck in the keyhole." Tomoyo lied easily, "Once it was clear the key went in easily."

"Those are beautiful flowers." Sakura said, admiring how the bunch still looked gorgeous, even dried.

"This is the bouquet from when your mother, Nadeshiko, got married." Sonomi said with a small, slightly sad smile, "Nadeshiko loved cherry blossoms. She always said she'd name her first daughter after them." She gently offered the bouquet to Sakura, who held them carefully but tightly, closing her eyes. She could almost feel her mother's prescience, looking over her.

"If you don't mind." Sonomi said, looking around at the group and putting the flowers back, "I'll make dinner tonight." She paused and looked around, "Isn't Mutou-kun with you? I bought enough cake for everyone…" Concern clouded her features.

"Yugi wasn't feeling very well, so he went straight home." Joey answered before the girls could.

"Are you Wheeler Joey?" Sonomi asked, looking the blonde over.

"I am." Joey nodded, still feeling a little awkward around the girls, "I hope I'm not an inconvenience."

Sonomi shook her head, "Tomoyo told me you were coming." She smiled at him, "If you'd like," She addressed the whole group, "Once you've all eaten, we can make some cakes to take home, Yugi might feel better if you take him a present."

"Really?" Tomoyo smiled, delighted, "You're done for the day?"

"I've emptied my schedule completely for the rest of the day." Sonomi promised, "So I'm free all evening."

"That's great." Tomoyo grinned.

"Thank you very much." Tea smiled, liking the thought of taking cakes home and knowing that Yugi, who was a big fan of sweet things, especially after working with his magic, would appreciate the thought. She sometimes wondered if Yugi was aware of how much they all - well the girls at least, she couldn't speak for Wheeler-San - worried about their friend.

"Well hurry and eat." Sonomi gestured for them to carry on, "I'll be in the kitchen when you're done." With that she darted out the door, giving Kero a chance to come out of hiding and Sakura a chance to convert the sword back into the Key.

"Well one good thing came out of Yugi being tired." Kero said as he landed next to the cake. "There's a piece for me now."

"Kero!" Sakura protested, trying not to laugh at the shamelessness of the Guardian of the Seal.

"Well at least he won't be trying to steal mine." Joey mock glowered at the plushy guardian as Sakura wrote her name on the two cards she'd captured today and added them to her ever expanding deck which now totalled twenty two cards.

"He normally gets half of Sakura's or Yugi's anyway." Tomoyo advised him, "And then tries to steal everyone else's."

"Well you're not getting mine," The blonde advised the bear and proceeded to eat.

And on that note, the others started on their cake.

**LINE_RECOGNTION_HAS_GONE_AGAIN**

**Author Note: - Sorry for the long delay, but here's another chapter. It's been a busy few days for the group, hasn't it? **


	13. A SHADOWy Arrival

"WINDY, WATERY trap FIREY!" Sakura bellowed to the two elemental cards she'd summoned moving to attack the one that was trying to burn down the park where Sakura and her friends spent so much time.

It had been just a few hours since they'd gone their separate ways after Sakura had sealed the SHIELD card and they'd had to rush out to Penguin Park when Sakura had seen the smoke rising from her favourite park and gotten here only to find that the third of the elemental Clow Cards was rampaging through the park.

Something creaked above her head as WINDY and WATERY worked together to form a whirlpool that trapped FIREY inside, "Sakura, look out!"

She looked up in time to see a burning tree branch fall onto shield of dark energy.

"Sakura, move!" Joey bellowed as Yami staggered, having trouble holding even this basic shield.

The Cardcaptor moved as the whirlpool died and the FIREY crashed to the ground. "Return to the guise you were meant to be!" Sakura demanded, raising her staff, as Yami collapsed against Joey, the shield fell and the branch hit the ground. "Clow Card!"

FIREY became a card, which floated into Sakura's hand, and the flames disappeared, saving the trees that weren't burnt and leaving the trees that had black and scorched, but the Cardcaptor was much more concerned about her friend, darting over to Joey's side, to see if Yugi was hurt. "Is he ok?"

"I knew he shouldn't have come out with me." Joey sighed at her as he scooped his sleeping friend up, "But he didn't want to worry his mum…" Joey trailed off as Kero glowed with a red light and grinned.

"What?" Sakura asked, as Kero waved his hand and a tiny flame appeared out of nowhere.

"The Clow cards come under one of two things, cards like FIREY and EARTHY look to the sun, while there are others who look to the moon." Kero explained, "And as the Sun Guardian, FIREY and EARTHY boost my powers. Once you have EARTHY I'll be able to take my true form." Kero explained, looking around, "I'll explain tomorrow."

Kero darted into Sakura's backpack as Toya appeared from between the trees and took in their sooty faces and clothes. "What are you doing here?" He asked, kneeling at Joey's side and checking Yugi over as shouts came from the surrounding area.

"RAIN!" Sakura quickly called her Clow Card out, getting it to rain over the area to make it look like it was that that had put out the fires.

"Clow Card." Joey explained, standing up and wondering how he was going to carry Yugi back to the house, "The FIREY. Sakura caught it."

Toya nodded, frowning slightly as the voices got closer, taking Yugi from Joey and ushering the children out of the park to the back entrance where Tomoyo's bodyguards were waiting.

Tomoyo instructed the guards to give them a lift home and they dropped Yugi and Joey off first. Toya carried Yugi inside and Kaiya followed them to Yugi's room, stopping off in the bathroom to get some plasters, a bowl of water and a damp cloth, where she asked Toya what had happened.

"I'm not sure." Toya looked at Joey, who looked rather uncomfortable. "Yugi was sleeping when I reached them. If you'll excuse me, Sakura's in the car and…"

"I understand." Kaiya nodded, escorting him out. In less than five minutes she was back and washing the soot off of Yugi's face, concern obvious. "What happened, Wheeler-Kun?"

"He's not hurt." Joey promised her, "Just exhausted. He hasn't really had a chance to rest since Shadi showed up."

"Since who showed up?" Yugi's mother scowled at the blonde that she'd taken in. "Wheeler-Kun? Since who showed up?"

"Uhh." Joey got a shifty look on his face, "No one?"

"Who is Shadi?" Kaiya demanded.

"He's another Shadow Mage." Joey admitted. "He and Yugi had a fight over the Millennium Puzzle. He left after Yugi passed a test of some kind on Sunday night."

"You both lied to me." Kaiya scowled.

"No, we did catch ARROW as well, it was a busy night. Yugi didn't want to worry you by telling you about Shadi." Joey shook his head, "And Yugi didn't lie to you, I covered for him, there's a difference."

"The main one being the length of time you're both grounded."

"You can't ground me!" Joey protested.

"My house, my rules." Kaiya scowled at him, "Now go and clean yourself up." She slipped Yugi out of his jacket as Joey left the room and tried to make her son more comfortable, finishing up by taking the Puzzle off and putting it on his bedside table, wondering, as she did so, if it was possible to ground the spirit of the Puzzle like she was grounding Yugi and Joey.

She then stepped out into the corridor to catch Joey before he slipped into the boys' bedroom. "What has been going on, Wheeler-San? What else haven't you two told me?"

"Well I suppose there's Li…" Joey said slowly, saw the look on the face of Yugi's mother and explained, "Well there's a kid, a magic user like Yugi and Sakura, at school, Li Shaoran. He doesn't like Shadow Mages like Yugi very much because his family was attacked by one."

"The same one that fought Yugi?" Kaiya bit her lower lip, worried that she might have to start watching her back.

"No." Joey shook his head, trying to sound reassuring, "It was a different one."

The fact that there was more than one person out there with the same kind of magic as Yugi who didn't object to attacking other people with magic didn't reassure Kaiya in the slightest.

"Yugi told me he had a run in with Li at lunch time, when Li tried to steal the Puzzle but nothing came of it and Toya helped him out so..." Joey paused and considered the woman who had taken him in, "I'm not helping am I?"

Kaiya sighed. "It's ok, Wheeler-Kun." She replied, "I suppose I should be glad to know that Yugi managed to fight off an attacker on his own." She went to shoo Joey into the bedroom, then paused, "Two days."

"Mutou-San?" Joey asked, confused.

"You and Yugi are grounded for two days. Yours starts as of tomorrow and Yugi's will start once he's caught up on his sleep."

"But…"

"I wouldn't argue unless you want another couple of days added to the total." Kaiya warned.

"Yes Mutou-San. Sorry Mutou-San." Joey nodded quickly and darted into the bedroom to avoid aggravating her any further.

Slowly Mutou Kaiya headed downstairs, thinking about what she'd been told. So there **were** other Shadow Mages out there then just Yugi, as she had believed there would be, but it sounded like none of them were suitable as teachers for her son, as one had attacked Yugi, while the other had apparently attacked a family and only left a child standing.

She could still take the Puzzle from her son, there was still that option. Take it from Yugi, shatter it and hand it back to her father.

Except she wasn't sure that Yugi would forgive her if she did, not when it had taken him four years to complete it the first time and no one knew what would happen to the spirit inside if the Puzzle shattered.

She looked at the clock and made up her mind what she was going to do.

She picked up the phone and dialled the number for a certain shop in Domino.

**LINE_RECOGNITION_HAS_GONE_AGAIN**

"Where's Yugi?" Tomoyo commented as she entered the classroom early the following morning to find Joey and Tea already there, but no Yugi.

"He's not coming to school today." Joey explained as he quickly scribbled something down on a piece of homework. "Mutou-San managed to get him to wake up long enough to go down for breakfast, but he nearly fell asleep in his cereal so…"

Tomoyo nodded her understanding, "Don't tell me you forgot to do that last night..." She chuckled, having thought the piece of homework Joey was working on was easy.

Joey just grouched at her and finished writing the last answer down.

"Hey guys." Sakura joined them, sitting at her desk and turning to look at Joey. "Has Yugi been meditating at all over the last couple of days?" She asked the blonde.

"I don't think so. Yami was too tired Sunday night, and Yugi was barely awake long enough to come to school and help you yesterday so…"

"That might explain it then." The Cardcaptor looked relieved.

"What's wrong?"

"Shadows are blocking my ability to sense magic again, if it wasn't Yugi causing it…"

The others got what she meant. If it wasn't Yugi's shadows on the loose, then there could be another shadow mage within Tomoeda's limits.

"What're you all doing after school?" Tea changed the topic of conversation, not wanting to think about what could happen if the guy who had attacked Li's family came here.

"I'm grounded for two days." Joey sulked. "As is Yugi when he wakes up."

"Why? I thought Muto-San was alright with the pair of you going out to fight Clow Cards."

"I might possibly have stuck my foot in my mouth and told her about Shadi." Joey grumbled.

"You told her about…" Tea felt like face palming, "I bet that didn't go down well."

"Could have gone worse." Joey shrugged.

"True." Tomoyo acknowledged, "Two days is getting off lightly considering she grounded Yugi for a week when she first found out about the…" She trailed off when Li entered the room and didn't pick up the thread of conversation because their classmates weren't far behind him.

Terada-Sensei was last into the classroom and behind him trailed in a tall, thin boy with long white hair and brown eyes. "Class," Terada-Sensei said, and the class settled at his voice, "We have a transfer student joining us."

This new addition filled out the class numbers completely and the white haired boy looked rather nervous, scanning the classroom for an empty seat, the only ones of which were Yugi's empty seat and the seat behind Joey.

"Hello," The white haired boy nodded at the class, "My name is Bakura Ryou. Pleased to meet you all."

Bakura's accent was odd, foreign, but only Tomoyo could place it as he took the seat behind Joey.

Terada-Sensei took the register, lingering for a moment over the fact Yugi was absent, motioning that Mutou-San hadn't looked well yesterday and he hoped he got better soon, and then class started in earnest.

Lunch time came all too soon and Bakura was invited to join them underneath the cherry tree.

Tea caught Sakura's arm on the way out as Joey led Ryou outside, "Are you alright? I saw you freeze when Bakura walked in."

"The magic that's blocking mine," Sakura said hastily, "It's Bakura's."

"What?" Tea hissed, looking around and pulling Sakura into an alcove, "You're sure?"

"He's the reason that I couldn't sense FIREY until I was already in the fire. It's his Shadows that are loose and Yugi's lack of control right now isn't helping."

"You think he knows about his magic?" Tea bit her lower lip, thinking about how oblivious Yugi had been before he'd run into Kero.

"I don't know." Sakura looked as nervous as Tea felt. "I get the same feeling from him that I do from Yugi when he hasn't meditated."

"A Millennium Item?"

"Possibly." Sakura nodded.

"And suddenly I'm glad Yugi's out sick today." Tea sighed. "Come on, we'd better join the others."

When they caught up to the gang Joey and Tomoyo had already unpacked their lunches and were caught up in conversation about where Bakura was from and where he was living now. Sakura pulled her lunch out of her bag, whispering an apology to Kero who gave her an ill amused look and settled down to listen, introducing herself but not feeling very talkative, not when she could see Li hovering around.

He seemed a lot like Yugi, quiet, shy, into games, though unlike Yugi who had a preference for card games, Ryou preferred things like Monster World which was a table top RPG, an only child, and all in all he seemed likeable.

Sakura was just starting to relax slightly around the boy when the bell went for the end of lunch and Li decided that he needed to talk to the Cardcaptor immediately.

"Be careful." Li scowled, glancing in the direction of the group who were heading inside.

"I know. Bakura's a Shadow Mage like Yugi." Sakura replied easily, trying to hide her own concern from the already paranoid Li. "I'm being careful."

"Not careful enough. You don't have any idea what these mages can do." Li scowled at her, walking with her back to class. Sakura hugged her bag tightly, refusing to give Li a chance to steal her Clow Cards.

"You're right, I don't know everything that Yugi and those like him can do, but I've seen enough to know that they're not to be messed with." Sakura agreed.

"How can you put up with them?" Li hissed. "Surely being around one was bad enough, now you want another one hanging around?"

"Yugi is a good friend who's risked his safety to help me many times." Sakura hissed at him, "And Bakura needs friends. He's starting a new school in a new city. Surely you know how that feels?"

Li just glowered at her. "I don't like them." He stated frustration obvious from his tone.

"Why?" Sakura couldn't understand why Li blamed Yugi and now Bakura for what had happened to his family when it hadn't been either of them who had attacked the Li family.

"Their magic… it's dark, very dark, and there's no one to train them except murderers and soul stealers. Once they can use their power properly they will turn on you and you won't be able to defend yourself."

"Yugi wouldn't do that." Sakura stated firmly, wishing she could be as sure about Bakura.

"You don't know that."

"I do." Sakura disagreed. "Yugi would never turn on his friends."

"What about Bakura?" Li scowled, seeing that he wasn't going to get anywhere with her on the subject of the wielder of the Millennium Puzzle.

"I guess I'll have to wait and see."

**LINE_RECOGNTION_HAS_GONE_AGAIN**

Being grounded wasn't much fun, Joey decided as he finished his homework and turned to stare at the ceiling. It wouldn't have been so bad had he been allowed to play games, but those had been ruled out as well, so while the girls walked Bakura home and then did whatever the girls did when the boys weren't around (and Joey didn't want to know about girly things) he was left staring at the artex on the ceiling and trying to envisage shapes out of the little dots.

It would have been more fun if Yugi had been awake as well, but according to Yugi's mother if he woke Yugi up he'd get another day added to his punishment and, other than waking up for lunch to grab a sandwich, Yugi had slept through the entire day.

It was all Shadi's fault of course. If he hadn't gone after Yugi at the tournament then Yugi wouldn't have ended up playing Shadi's Shadow Games on Sunday evening and Yugi wouldn't have been exhausted and he and Joey wouldn't be grounded now because Joey wouldn't have had anything to put his foot in his mouth about.

On the plus side Yugi now knew that he was grounded as well and Yugi would object to the no games rule more then Joey would.

"Wheeler-Kun." Kaiya poked her head in the door, speaking softly in case she woke her son up, "Dinner's ready."

"Dinner?" Both Kaiya and Joey turned to look at the camp bed where Yugi was blinking at them and sitting up, looking much healthier then he had when Joey had had to shake him awake last night in order to get him up to help against FIREY, but still looking like he could use another couple of hours sleep.

"Feeling hungry, Yugi?" Kaiya went over to her son's bed and checked his temperature.

Yugi's stomach answered before his voice could, making his mother chuckle and Joey snort. Joey had thought he was bad for eating, he could swear Yugi was a garbage disposal unit the amount Yugi could get through in a meal. Not that it seemed to aid Yugi's growth in any way; he ate the most but was most definitely the shortest of their group.

"Come downstairs then." Kaiya stood up once she was convinced of her son's wellbeing. "There's plenty of food available and I want to hear what happened at the weekend from you."

"I… Sorry…" Yugi apologised as he picked up the Puzzle, feeling guilty for getting Joey to cover for him.

Kaiya wasn't sure whether to reassure him or scold him. Her son had a habit of apologising for the wrong things and she wasn't certain if he was apologising for worrying her, apologising for getting Joey to cover for him or apologising for escaping from Shadi only to return and play his games the following evening.

The first didn't really need an apology as it was a mother's prerogative to worry about her son, the second did, but he should apologise to Joey as much as apologise to her and the last she wasn't sure whether he needed to apologise or be commended for going to play Shadi's dark games in order to protect his friends.

She just nodded, giving Yugi and understanding smile as he put the Puzzle on, before heading downstairs.

"Tea brought you a present home." Joey advised him as Yugi pulled himself out of bed.

"A present?" Yugi looked confused, wondering what it was.

Joey pointed to the pile of paper next to his bed. "Homework assignment. Read a book and write a report on it. It's due next week."

Yugi's groan made Joey chuckle, though he paused in saying anything when Yugi suddenly looked like he was listening to something only he could hear, only to chuckle again when Yugi's attention returned to the real world and ask, "I take it Yami's up then?"

"Actually I tried to talk to him and all I got was 'give me five more minutes'." Yugi smiled slightly, though the look was part amusement part frustration.

"Unless you want a stinking headache, I'd leave him." Joey advised as the pair walked downstairs.

"Oh I will." Yugi nodded, laughing lightly, "But I'm not getting up to talk to him if he wakes up in the middle of the night. No way."

Joey paused, glanced towards the kitchen where Kaiya was dishing up and then turned back to Yugi, "If he wakes up before you go back to bed, could the pair of you stay up and talk for a while?"

"Why? What's wrong?" Yugi asked, concerned.

"Well there's this new kid at school…"

**LINE_RECOGNTION_HAS_GONE_AGAIN **

Li had been stalking Bakura around town for a while, not trusting the boy not to cause trouble, but so far he hadn't been spotted.

The Clow Cards were almost impossible to find while the Shadows were racing around like this, as they had been since the weekend when he had moved here, as it was almost impossible to sense anything through the mire of dark magic, leaving him frustrated as it meant that Li couldn't capture them to use against the man who'd attacked his family and left him little to do other than stalk the item holders who lived in town.

It really hadn't helped his mood that the girl who possessed the Key of Clow was so dismissive of his concerns and that she risked the safety of the Clow Cards by spending time in the company of the boy with the Puzzle and now the new kid who, even though he'd hidden it in school was wearing an odd golden pendant now.

An odd golden pendant with the same eye symbol as the Eye that the man had had and the Puzzle that Mutou wore.

"Hello."

Li jumped a mile as someone tapped him on the shoulder, wheeling around to face his foe, avoiding summoning his sword only by great force of will, only to find the white haired boy he'd been trailing was now stood behind him looking like a cat who had gotten the cream.

"What do you want?" Li demanded, scowling at the kid, getting the feeling that he'd just walked into a trap without even realising it.

"Shouldn't I be asking you the same thing?" Bakura asked, a smirk crossing his features, "After all you're the one who has been trailing me across town."

He knew... he knew and he'd **let **Li do it...

Cold trickled down Li's spine as he realised that Bakura could have lost him at any moment and had chosen to lead him here.

"It's rude to stalk people, you know." Bakura commented as if he was commenting on the weather, circling Li, looking amused when the Chinese boy tried to watch his every movement, "So I suggest you tell me what you want before I get mad."

"I'm not telling you anything." Li snarled, calling his sword.

Big mistake.

The shadows around them deepened, the sky seemed to vanish entirely and Bakura gained an evil smirk, "Fine." The boy said, "Let's play a game."

**LINE_RECOGNITION_HAS_GONE_AGAIN**

Kaiya was of the sensible opinion that if Yugi had been tired enough to sleep for almost twenty four hours then he obviously wasn't well enough to go to school on Wednesday either, however no one knew why Li Shaoran had gone out sick as well.

A couple of students were worried that whatever Yugi supposedly had was catching, but since magical exhaustion wasn't contagious, Sakura and the others didn't worry too much. Besides, if Yugi had actually been sick and other people could catch it, Joey, who shared the same room as him, would have caught it already.

On Thursday, when Yugi rejoined the class, fully recovered and raring to go again, but with a request for his friends to come over after school since he was convinced that there was something in his house that shouldn't be and he wasn't sure if it was a Clow Card or not, Li was still out sick and it had looked like Bakura was going to be out too, until he arrived mid morning with the excuse that he'd overslept, and could he make up any missed work?

Bakura was in the classroom, catching up with his missed morning work, at lunch time so Yugi didn't get to finally meet him properly until school kicked out and the gang gathered at the shoe lockers, where Yugi was putting on the Puzzle, something he tended to do before putting his outdoor shoes back on, and the others were putting on their shoes.

"Hi Bakura." Sakura smiled, noting the way the boy's eyes had widened at the sight of Yugi's Puzzle, "This is our friend, Mutou Yugi." She indicated the Puzzle holder, who smiled and offered his hand to the other Shadow mage.

"Bakura Ryou." The white haired boy shook it nervously. "Can I ask where you got your pendant?"

"My Puzzle?" Yugi's hand went to it protectively as Yami, woken by Yugi's short, seemingly unreasonable burst of fear, waited, ready to take over if Bakura challenged them, refusing to let Yugi game alone again after last time. "It was a present from my Grandfather. He got it in Egypt."

"I was just curious." Bakura replied, slightly defensively, "It has the same symbol on as my own pendant." Bakura untucked a golden ring, with a golden triangle in the centre with the eye symbol on in the middle and five golden spikes hanging from it.

"What is that?" Tomoyo asked, glancing from Bakura's pendant to Yugi's Puzzle.

"My father bought it for me in Egypt." Bakura explained, "It's called the Millennium Ring."

"Mine's the Millennium Puzzle." Yugi told him, thinking quickly and coming to a conclusion he wasn't sure his friends would like. "Would you like to come over to my house?"

"You're inviting me over?" Bakura looked surprised.

Yugi nodded. "I'd like to hear more about your…" Yugi squeaked as he took a step forward, tripped over the mat on the floor and nearly face planted, only prevented from doing so by Bakura's quick reaction time.

The white haired boy's hand brushed the Puzzle as Yugi got his footing and Bakura cringed as pain shot through him.

'_The Millennium Puzzle!'_ A voice echoed within Bakura's head.

"You alright, Bakura?" Sakura asked, concern obvious.

"I'm ok…"Bakura waved it off, suddenly scared, "I… Tomorrow? Maybe?" He asked Yugi.

The Pharaoh's host nodded and Bakura darted out of the school.

**LINE_RECOGNITION_HAS_GONE_AGAIN**

'_Hehehehe.'_

Bakura, who was trying to do his homework, froze at the sound of the voice. "Who… who's there?" He demanded, moving away from the desk.

'_So, you can hear my voice!'_

"Who are you?"

'_Stop shouting, I can hear you just fine. I am, after all, in your head.'_

"What?"

'_I guess from now on I'll be able to speak with my host. Truly a day to remember!' _The voice gloated, _'And not only that, I've finally find him! The Pharaoh's reincarnation! The holder of the Puzzle! After five thousand years!'_

"_Yugi!"_ Bakura's eyes widened, concern for the other boy coursing through him. He tried to take the Ring off, only to find that the points had dug into his chest.

'_You're not going to get rid of me that easily.'_ The voice crowed, _'Thanks to you I found him. I'm keeping you and you should be grateful. I've been granting your wishes after all.'_

"What do you mean?" Bakura asked shakily.

'_I wish I could play with my friends forever.'_ The voice said, mimicking Bakura's as he did so, before reverting back to its own, _'I granted that wish for you!'_

"Wh… what are you talking about? You can't mean those…"

'_If you haven't figured it out yet, you soon will.'_ The voice sniggered. _'In any case, this is the perfect chance for me to get my hands on the Puzzle. If I miss this chance I have no idea how long I'll have to wait for another.'_

Bakura didn't know what to say, but it appeared the spirit within the Ring was willing to carry on speaking. _'The Millennium Items are relics from the past which house ancient spirits, like memorial stones or portable tombs. I have no idea how many survived the long wait, but as long as there is even one guardian of the tombs, there'll always be a thief to rob them. Now, since I'm feeling nice tonight, let me pay my rent.'_

"What are you going to…"

'_Sleep, Bakura Ryou, sleep.'_ The voice urged. Bakura tried to fight the exhaustion that suddenly swept over him, but all it did was make him more tired and before he could warn any of his new friends, or do anything to stop it, he'd fallen asleep, allowing the Thief King Bakura to slip into control of his body.

**LINE_RECOGNITION_HAS_GONE_AGAIN**

"So what do you think it is?" Sakura asked Yugi, glancing around the kitchen, half afraid that the thing causing trouble was a ghost of some kind.

"I don't know." Yugi replied, glancing around the kitchen, "But something's been moving things around the house and I think…"

"You were right to tell us." Kero interrupted, glowing with a red aura, "It's defiantly a Clow Card."

"Do you know which one?" Tomoyo asked, recording the scene, noting the fact that Tea and Joey were scanning the room nervously and Yami, who was visible on the camcorder screen, was leaning against the counter, watching Kero carefully.

"Not off hand." Kero shook his head, "But there aren't many left who could move objects around without being obvious, so it's either MOVE, who I don't see hanging around such a heavily magically charged place, or SHADOW, which considering your magic…" He looked at Yami, who snorted and switched with Yugi.

"I wouldn't be surprised if it was SHADOW considering everything." The Pharaoh nodded, understanding.

"So how do we stop it?" Joey asked, looking between the pair.

"SHADOW hates light. We can drive it out into the open, or trap it by turning on every light and lighting up every dark corner available."

"I don't think we have that many lights." Joey said, thinking, trying to remember how many lamps he'd seen around the house.

"I have an idea." Kero considered Yugi, who'd gotten Yami to show him how to take spirit form the previous day since Yugi had slept himself out by then and had had nothing to do, since the book report he had been supposed to be getting on with had been going nowhere fast.

Yugi, who had taken spirit form in order to listen to the conversation for himself, was finding it slightly disconcerting that only Kero and Yami could see him, making him wonder if this was how Yami felt the majority of the time. He tilted his head slightly and gave Kero a curious look.

"We need light," Kero explained, "And I can show you how to spread your aura out…"

"How dangerous is this going to be to my Aibou?" Yami asked.

"Aibou?" Kero asked, surprised, having never heard Yami refer to Yugi like that before.

"Just answer the question." Yami snapped. He didn't feel comfortable calling Yugi 'Yugi', but at the same time had already worked out that calling him 'my hikari' made both of them feel awkward. Since Yugi had offered him a partnership back when CHANGE had swapped Kero and the Pharaoh over, he had eventually decided that 'aibou' fit well enough.

"SHADOW hates light but can't harm it. SHADOW will try, but, if anything, Yugi's probably going to be the safest one out the lot of us. Besides, if anything happens, he has you."

"Fine." Yami nodded, scowling slightly, not liking the idea of his aibou being the bait, but catching the thoughts that were going through Yugi's mind, even if the boy didn't mean for them to be heard. Yugi wanted to do this, if only to help Sakura and get rid of the card before his Mother came home.

He switched out with Yugi who looked at Kero, "How do I…?"

"It's pretty simple…" Kero quickly showed Yugi who, aided by Yami who had quickly realised that it wasn't that different from him sending his shadows out, picked it up pretty quickly and proceeded to send his light out, chasing away the darkness, hoping to catch the Card before his mother got home.

They heard an angry screech from the living room and Sakura called on her staff and darted into the room, where a black robe was floating in the middle of the room, it's 'hood' looking around before it's 'gaze' rested on her.

Then it tried to flee.

Sakura wasn't having any of it. She called on WINDY who attempted to trap SHADOW, only for the Clow Card to attempt to dart past Sakura into the kitchen. Joey got between Yugi and the floating cloak.

"Return to the guise you were meant to be!" Sakura attacked from behind, "Clow Card!"

SHADOW screeched again and reverted to his card form. WINDY reverted almost instantly afterwards and Yugi drew back in his aura, before raiding the fridge for something sweet and sugary and passing a donut to Sakura before offering them around and eating one himself.

"I can't believe that SHADOW's been living under our nose the whole time." Joey groused.

"I can." Kero chuckled, more than appeased with Yugi's offering. "Sensing anything in this house is really hard. If I hadn't had the boost from FIREY and known I was supposed to be looking for anything, I wouldn't have known it was here."

Joey just snorted and accepted Kero's explanation.

"Yugi-Kun, Wheeler-Kun, I'm home."

"In here, Okaasan." Yugi called.

Kaiya entered the room and sighed, "Have you been hunting Clow Cards again?" She asked her son.

"Only one." Kero spoke up, "And it was hiding here."

"Here?" Kaiya looked surprised. When Kero nodded, she sighed. "Is it gone?" Again Kero nodded. "I don't mean to sound rude, but if the Clow Card's gone, you girls need to leave. Yugi's currently grounded."

Yugi, who had hoped his mother had forgotten that he was technically grounded until school started tomorrow, gave the others an apologetic look. The girls laughed and waved it off, taking their donuts and heading out.

"Now, what do you want for dinner?"

**LINE_RECOGNTION_HAS_GONE_AGAIN**

Tea was walking home alone, humming a song that she was supposed to be practising to, and was so distracted that when someone tapped her on the shoulder she jumped a mile, wheeling around to find the white haired boy that had joined their group at the start of the week giving her an amused look.

"Bakura-Kun?" She asked, her heart beating at a rate of knots as she tried to calm herself down.

"Sorry, Gardener-Chan." Bakura apologised, "I was wondering if you could help me with something…"

"Sure, what do you need?"

The Shadows deepened around them and Tea let out a panicked yelp, recognising the darkness around them from Yugi's rare Shadow Games.

"Play a game with me…"

**LINE_RECOGNITION_HAS_GONE_AGAIN**

**Author Note: - Poor Tea.**


	14. King of Thieves

Tea was in the hospital.

They hadn't known anything was wrong until they'd gotten into school the morning after dealing with The SHADOW card, only to find that Tea was out sick.

Concerned for their friend, they'd rang Tea's house after school and had been informed by a rather tearful and scared sounding Mrs Gardener that Tea was very sick and no they couldn't speak with her right now. Yugi's mother, who had taken the phone from Yugi when she'd seen how worried her son was, had gotten more details out of the woman, finding out that Tea was in Tomoeda's major hospital and was in a coma for no reason the Doctors could find.

Nor was she the only child in Tomoeda to have fallen into such a state in the last week.

When Yugi heard the word 'coma' he had paled, worried that the man who'd attacked Li's family had caught up to them, considering that Tea had been perfectly well when she'd left their house last night.

Then a thought he didn't really like occurred to him.

He knew that he and Yami hadn't done anything to anyone, well they had played a couple of Shadow Games in self-defence but they hadn't put anyone in a coma, however there was another in Domino with the powers of a Millennium Item at their disposal.

Not that he wanted to think that Bakura was to blame for Tea's condition…

He wasn't sure what to think. He couldn't work out why someone would attack someone who had done nothing but be friendly towards them and Bakura had seemed nice enough today in class, if a little nervous.

It couldn't be Bakura, surely…

But what if it was?

Yugi waited until his mother was distracted and Joey was helping her in the kitchen. Then he slipped out the front door.

He needed to talk to the other Millennium Item wielder.

**LINE_RECOGNITION_HAS_GONE_AGAIN**

Yugi wasn't the only one contemplating the other magic users in Tomoeda. Sakura was divining using the Clow Cards at Kero's advice, mixing the cards with her left hand, before putting them back in a pile, then cutting the stack of magically charged cards into three piles, before stacking them again in any order.

It seemed complicated but Sakura followed the instructions, drawing cards from the top of the deck and placing them in a set order, first one at the top, then one on either side of that, until she had a diamond shape that consisted of nine cards in front of her.

"Cards created by Clow, reply to my query." At Kero's instruction, she closed her eyes and spoke. "Show before me the true guise of the one who threatens my friends."

She felt energy wrap around her and sensed the power of the Clow Cards on the desk grow for a few moments. Then the moment passed and she flipped the top card.

The WINDY was revealed.

Kero scowled.

"Kero?" Sakura asked nervously.

"WINDY represents information." Kero replied, "It means that your adversary knows about you and quite possibly your friends as well."

Sakura gulped slightly. This wasn't good news considering that almost every mage they'd met so far had known more about magic then they did and if this new adversary did know about them and their powers, they'd know that they had little to no training.

Next she flipped over the three cards in the middle row, the cards which would represent what kind of adversary they were facing.

Sakura was almost completely unsurprised to see SHADOW when she flipped the first card. Though she knew she shouldn't read it so directly, it was almost impossible not to assume that the one who'd attacked Tea was a Shadow Mage, not with what they knew about those who wielded Millennium Items and weren't Yugi, especially considering that they'd captured SHADOW within Yugi's home.

The next one was RAIN and the last of the three LIBRA.

Kero didn't wait to tell her the translation of those three, only urged Sakura to flip over the bottom card which would tell her what their adversary was after.

It was The GLOW.

"GLOW?" Sakura asked, confused for a moment or two, then a memory crossed her mind.

"_**You're the Light," Yami said with a low bow.**_

"_**I'm The LIGHT?" Yugi asked confused.**_

_**Yami shook his head, "Not 'The LIGHT'. The Light, the Sun… Hikari…"**_

"Yugi!" Sakura squeaked, quickly pulling her cards together in a pile and shoving them in her pocket before attempting to ring her friend. When she didn't get an answer on Yugi's mobile, she rang the home phone and got a rather irritated Mutou Kaiya who had thought that her son had slipped out of the house in order to go help her and demanded to know what was going on.

Sakura considered not telling the woman, who'd been treating each of Yugi's friends like her own children, what was wrong. It wouldn't be fair to worry her but at the same time Kaiya had always been fair with them, as long as they had told her everything and Sakura didn't really want to get Yugi grounded again…

So Sakura explained that Yugi had probably gone to speak to a friend of theirs who also held a Millennium Item. Kaiya knew about Bakura, Yugi and Joey had told her about him and she'd extended an invitation to the white haired boy, though it had yet to be accepted and, though she was annoyed that her son had left the house without telling her, it was very like Yugi to want to check on his friends.

When Sakura mentioned that she was concerned about Yugi being out on his own with everything that was going on, Kaiya suggested that it would be safer to go in a group and she'd be happy to chaperone if she waited ten or fifteen minutes for them to get to Sakura's house.

Toya, upon hearing that Kaiya was coming over, suggested that, since he had little to do this evening, escorted Sakura over and played chaperone, since, with the help of the Clow Cards they could get to the Mutou house much faster than Kaiya and Joey could get to the Kinomoto residence.

Kaiya, trusting Toya since he'd saved her son's life, agreed with this plan and when the pair arrived seven minutes later, Joey was ready to go.

"Do you know where Bakura might be?" Kaiya asked as the three prepared to leave.

Sakura, who had been having trouble sensing anything until a few minutes ago when the Shadows that had been swamping Tomoeda for the last few days had suddenly converged on one point, nodded, worried that, if anything, they were going to be too late to help Yugi.

Not that she didn't have faith in her friend, but Bakura had had his Millennium Item longer than Yugi had and Yugi's experience with magic since he'd completed the Puzzle basically consisted of learning meditation and Yami making it up as he went along.

"Be careful, alright?" Kaiya asked the trio.

"Don't worry Mutou-San." Toya reassured her, "I'll keep an eye on them."

"Thank you Toya."

Toya and Joey, led by Sakura, left to find Yugi.

**LINE_RECOGNITION_HAS_GONE_AGAIN**

Yami was fuming.

It hadn't been hard to trace Bakura, mostly because the other item wielder hadn't been trying to hide his magic and, if the Pharaoh was right, Bakura had been trying to draw out the owner of the Millennium Puzzle.

That wasn't what had Yami ticked though. What had him ticked was the way that not only had Bakura admitted to challenging and defeating both Li, who Yami had wanted to Game for days now and had only held off because he'd been too tired to deal with him, and Tea, who Bakura had had no right to challenge and Yami would make him pay for what he'd done to her, in Shadow Games, but the fact that Bakura hadn't given them a fair warning about the fact he was challenging them and had set the game in motion before they'd had a chance to accept or decline the challenge.

The game they pair of them had been challenged at was a modified form of Hare and Hounds, a strategic game where, normally, the aim, if you were the hare, was to get past the hounds while the hounds did their best to stop you. That was on the board game version.

In the Shadow Game version, the part of the hounds were played by three rather large, vicious looking brown furred dogs with glowing red eyes, huge white horns growing out of their heads, sharp claws and razor sharp teeth, who appeared to be more than willing to attempt to take a bite out of the piece that represented the hare, while Yami had the, supposedly, easy task of getting the hare past the hounds. It didn't matter which square the hare was on at the time, as long as there were no hounds on its left hand side.

However Bakura had been fully aware of the fact that Yugi was possessed and had made sure to do something about it.

Yugi had been in control when the magic had rushed at them and, though Yami had tried to take control before anything could happen, had had his soul ripped from his body and dragged onto the board, only to be dumped, in spirit form, on the tile that the hare was supposed to start on.

When Bakura had started gloating, Yugi had realised that the Bakura they were facing and the Bakura who was their classmate were two completely different people.

Ba-Khu-Ra, who was more than willing to go by his host's surname, since it was so close to his own name had been amused when he'd found out one of the other Millennium Spirits had survived from the girl that he'd gamed last night and, while he fumed over the fact that the red eyed body snatcher in front of him was one who had profited from the destruction of his village, he couldn't help but find it amusing that the other spirit, who was so very protective of his young host, didn't know his own name.

Ba-Khu-Ra remembered the spirit in front of him, there was no way he could not. The man in front him of was, after all, the very Pharaoh who had killed him so many years ago, however the Thief King Ba-Khu-Ra, had never known the name of the spirit of the Millennium Puzzle, he had only ever known him as 'Pharaoh'.

And considering that he believed that the son inherited the sins of his father it was fitting, in the Thief King's mind at least, that the son of the Pharaoh who had permitted the mass sacrifice of his village had suffered the worst punishment that those of his time could imagine.

If a spirit had no name, it could not enter the afterlife and would be doomed to walk the Earth as a nameless spirit for eternity.

Just as the spirit of the Pharaoh would return to doing once Ba-Khu-Ra's hounds destroyed the soul of the Pharaoh's host and the Thief King claimed the Millennium Puzzle.

However, if he wanted to be able to use the Millennium Puzzle's powers, he had to get on with this game, for the only way to force a Millennium Item to recognise a new owner was for the old one to die, or for the old holder to lose a battle in which the item in question was the prize.

And as it stood the Pharaoh's host, who had taken the place of the hare in the game going on below them, was out numbered but not out matched as Ba-Khu-Ra's hounds could only destroy him if they managed to corner him and the Pharaoh, who was directing his 'aibou', acting as the opposing player, something that Ba-khu-Ra had planned for, was doing everything he could to ensure that his host had an exit at all times.

Not that it would matter soon. Ba-Khu-Ra had planned to fight the spirits of the other Millennium Items at some point and had researched games far in advance, in order to give him some form of advantage when he finally ran into the others, so he knew many tactics for this game that the other spirit didn't.

However the Pharaoh was a swift learner and his host wasn't any less tactically minded, and where, to begin with, Ba-Khu-Ra had had the advantage, provided by his advance knowledge, the Pharaoh's fury and the host's fear, the game was now a lot more evenly balanced and every move the Thief King made was being countered by the spirit that currently went by the name Yami.

It was currently 'Yami's' turn and the spirit was carefully considering the board.

From where Ba-Khu-Ra was sat he could see three ways of wining. He was certain that Yami was trying to protect his 'aibou' from two of them but had missed the third as the Pharaoh asked his host to move to the space down and to his left and the host nervously wobbled across the narrow beam between the square platform he was currently stood on and the octagon that was the space Yami wanted him to move to, nervous, but trusting the Pharaoh implicitly.

One of the Mad Dogs of Darkness Bakura had conjured in order to take the place of the hounds snapped at 'Yugi' as he passed, causing the boy to squeak, starting to take a step back and only avoiding putting his foot down on empty air and falling off of the board because Yami had snapped at him, causing the boy to jump, put his foot down safely and finish the move.

Then it was Ba-Khu-Ra's turn again.

Yami watched carefully as the spirit who had identified himself as the Thief King Ba-Khu-Ra, made his move.

The Pharaoh was on edge. This wasn't the first time Yugi had been involved in a Shadow Game for his life, the Game with Shadi would, quite possibly, have killed him if Yugi had lost, but it was the first time that Yami had played a Shadow Game that wasn't of his own creation and playing it for such high stakes concerned him.

Not because he didn't think he would win, Yami had every confidence in his ability to win at any game. No, the concern was over the fact he didn't trust Ba-Khu-Ra would keep his end of the bargain and release Tea and Li when he was defeated and the fact that, though Yugi was trying to hide it, he could sense that the Shadows were heavily draining his aibou's mental and magical energies.

Yami had done the best he could to shield his aibou from the pain and stress of being in the Shadow Realm, but while he could shield his aibou from some of it while they were separate like this, he couldn't stop all of it, and Yugi was young, inexperienced at surviving here, and the boy certainly wasn't used to being a spirit.

He'd had to watch as Yugi's mind had steadily grown more clouded as the game went on and the boy had gotten dizzier and dizzier, but there were only a few moves left to play now, Yami had seen what Ba-Khu-Ra was trying to pull and had planned around it, making, what appeared to be, a reckless and desperate move in order to lure out the hound that been hiding on far left of the board for the majority of the game.

He just hoped that Yugi could hold on that long and Ba-Khu-Ra would keep his word.

The Thief King gave an order and the hound that Yami had needed to move leapt off of the leftmost platform and onto the square directly across from his aibou, who glanced over to Yami, giving him a small, slightly nervous smile, trust radiating over the link.

That was another thing that helped Yami's confidence. Yugi, while nervous about the fact that he seemed to be coming down with the same sickness that had affected him when he'd summoned the Dark Magician, had every faith that the spirit of the Puzzle would get him out of this safely.

"It's your move, Yami." Ba-Khu-Ra said the last word as if it were a joke, causing the nameless Pharaoh's irritation to spike for a moment as, once again Yami wondered if the spirit in front of him had known his real name, before mentally shaking his head and focusing on the game before him, taking a moment to wonder if the Thief King honestly thought that he was fall for such an obvious trap as the one that was before him. He could send Yugi across one, and from there the next logical step was onto the goal platform.

Or it would have been had the hounds not been in the perfect position to corner Yugi on the next turn if Yami sent him that way, preventing Yami from making a move, both ending the game, and sealing his aibou's fate.

"I apologise Aibou," Yami said to the tired looking spirit, who gave him a confused look, "But I must ask you to go back the way you came."

Yugi nodded and carefully made his way back across the narrow beam, managing to avoid making the same mistake twice as irritation crossed Ba-Khu-Ra's features, which vanished quickly when Yami sensed his aibou's light falter and the boy sat down rather heavily.

"Aibou, are you alright?" Yami tried to keep his concern from reaching his voice but wasn't particularly successful at it. His fears weren't alleviated any when Yugi gave him a watery smile and tried to reassure him, but didn't get to his feet.

"You could surrender." Ba-Khu-Ra suggested with a small smirk, "I'll send your soul to the Shadow Realm," The Thief King gestured towards the nameless Pharaoh, "And your little host can go free. Of course I get to keep the others but..."

"No." Yugi forced himself to his feet as he heard Yami turning the offer over in his mind, half disbelieving the Thief King's words but concerned for his host. "I won't let you. They aren't yours to keep."

"Just make your move, Bakura." Yami growled, both praising his aibou's determination and cursing himself for letting the game drag on this long.

The Thief King, who had hoped that the nameless Pharaoh's concern for his little host would have made him sloppy, snapped out an order quickly and watched the hound in question follow it, preventing the spirit of the nameless Pharaoh's host from going back across the beam for a third time and gestured for Yami to continue.

It wasn't that he had anything against the boy. It wasn't the kid's fault that he'd gotten his hands on the Millennium Puzzle, any more then it was the fault of Ba-Khu-Ra's host that the Millennium Ring had fallen into his hands, and though he had wanted revenge on the Pharaoh that had killed him and any of the others from that time that had known and condoned of the massacre of Kul Elna, it seemed that fate had punished the Pharaoh for him.

He did, however, still need the other Millennium Items if he was going to stand a chance of making the other Millennium Spirits pay for their crimes.

He watched the Pharaoh's host move into the spot his hound had recently vacated and let out a curse in Egyptian that, if the other spirit had remembered the language, would have had him wincing, as he realised what he'd done.

Moving the hound that he had down a space had cleared a path for the Pharaoh's host to move to the left and, though he could have prevented the kid from reaching safety a turn ago, his hounds couldn't move backwards unlike the 'hare' and there was little he could do to stop the Pharaoh from winning the game.

"It's your move, Bakura." Yami commented idly, a smirk gracing his features.

Even without his memories, the Pharaoh was a smug, irritating git, Ba-Khu-Ra grouched as he considered the board, trying to think of a way that he could still win the game and coming up empty. Then he smirked.

There was a way he could claim the Puzzle without winning...

Yugi squeaked and ducked as the Mad Dog of Darkness that had been on the square above his leapt at him, causing the dog to go sailing over head and land on the very edge of the platform.

"Aibou!" Yami yelped as Yugi backed towards the edge, the dog growling at him, only to turn and run for the narrow ledge that would take him to the far left platform and win the game.

Yugi managed to get one foot on the ledge before the dog snapped at him, but it was enough as Yugi vanished from the field before the huge jaws could shut around him.

Yami sensed it the moment that Yugi was back in the body and he turned to Ba-Khu-Ra with a vicious snarl as the Shadows faded away.

"Yugi!"

The harsh eyes of the Thief King were gone, replaced by the much softer eyes of the Bakura, the boy who was in their class, for a moment at least, then the white haired boy collapsed. Yami turned around, confused, to find Sakura and Joey rushing over, along with Toya who caught the other Shadow wielder as he fell.

"Yami." Sakura nodded, concern obvious, "Are you alright?"

"I am fine." Yami nodded, worried about the condition of both his aibou and the Thief King's host and furious that Ba-Khu-Ra appeared to have vanished before he could fulfil his side of the bargain, not that Yami had expected any better of him.

"Did you win?" Joey asked, having seen the Shadows once before, when Yugi, or he supposed Yami, had played those bullies while Joey and Sakura had dealt with The FIGHT.

Yami nodded again, "I did, but..."

A very tired looking Yugi switched with the ancient spirit he shared his body with. "I need to make a phone call." He said, pulling his phone out of his pocket, blinking at it when he realised that it was switched off.

Joey snorted and took the phone from him when Yugi appeared to have forgotten how to turn it back on, though he couldn't know it was because Yugi was still feeling rather dizzy from the Shadow Game, and just as Joey was switching the phone on, Sakura's mobile rang.

"Moshi moshi?" Sakura asked as she quickly answered it. "Yukito-San?"

Yugi gave Joey a questioning look and Joey obliged. "Tsukishiro-San was at Sakura's house when Kinomoto-San and Sakura rushed out, after you wandered off. Kinomoto-San asked him to go to the hospital in case you showed up there."

"That's great." Sakura grinned as Yukito said something. There was another pause as she listened to something else, then she passed the phone to Toya, who had been trying to wake Bakura, and turned to her friends. "Tea's awake."

"He kept his word." Yugi looked relieved as he wavered on his feet, causing Joey to steady him.

"Careful, Yuge." Joey said, worried about his friend. "What do you mean? Did Bakura...?"

Yugi switched back out with Yami, who looked considerably steadier on his feet right then than Yugi was and shook his head, "Bakura didn't do anything. Ba-Khu-Ra, the Thief King, the spirit of the Millennium Ring, did."

"He's possessed too?" Toya asked, frowning as he put the phone down and scooped up the unconscious boy.

Yami nodded. "There's an ancient spirit in the Ring." He explained, "He's the one who's been dragging people into Shadow Games."

"Is he the one that set the game in motion tonight?" Toya asked, wondering if the boy's condition had something to do with the game.

Before Yami could answer, Bakura started awake and looked around at the group with wide, confused eyes. "What's going on?"

"Are you alright, Bakura?" Yugi took control and moved to the boy's side, concerned for the boy but wary that the Thief King might try again.

"Yugi?" Panic crept into the eleven year old's features, "You should stay away. It's not safe. He..." Bakura trailed off, not wanting to admit everything.

"It's alright." Yugi reassured him, "I already know and I think we've got a lot to talk about. You're not the only one who has a voice in their head."

Bakura blinked at him as Toya set the white haired boy down. "I'm... you... really? Then I'm not going mad?"

Yugi nodded as Joey and Sakura, warily, moved to his side, giving him backup in case he needed it. "No madder than the rest of us at least."

Toya snorted something about that shouldn't be reassuring and Sakura lambasted her brother for it.

"Come to my house." Yugi offered, unwilling and unable to blame Bakura for the actions of the spirit of the Ring, just as his friends didn't pin anything Yami did on him, "We can talk about it there. I promise we," Yugi's hand rested on the Millennium Puzzle, "Can handle your other spirit if he tries to cause trouble."

Yami, who was listening to the conversation in case he had to take over again, was less confident that Yugi would survive a second round quite so soon if they played the same game, but didn't say anything as the other item holder made up his mind about something.

"I don't know..." Bakura didn't want to risk his friends' safety, since he was certain that the spirit of his Ring would try again considering the collection of figurines that he had for his Monster World RPG that had the souls of former friends sealed inside.

But then if Yugi had a voice in his head too, and the other voice was willing to help Yugi rather than cause trouble for Yugi's friends... "Mutou-San... I need you to look at something for me. At my house."

"What's that?" Bakura could see the wariness given off by Sakura and Joey; two of his new friends who he was certain would want to stop being friends with him after everything that the voice had done over the last week or so, as Yugi asked the question.

"I think Voice has attacked other people." Bakura explained, trying not to wince as he did so, knowing that, once the others had seen the collection, they would never want to hang around with him again. He didn't want that, but could and would deal with that as long as the others that the Voice had trapped were set free. "And I don't know how to help them."

"Don't worry." Yugi reassured the white haired boy, "I promise we'll work it out together, ok?"

Bakura was surprised after, he assumed, Voice had tried to attack Yugi, that Yugi still wanted to be friends with him. Still, even if Yugi would turn away, as Ryou was convinced he would, after seeing the collection of souls that the other spirit had gathered, just the thought of having friends that could stand up to Voice, even if it was just for a short time, was nice.

"Thank you, Mutou-San."

"Call me Yugi."

**LINE_RECOGNITION_HAS_GONE_AGAIN**

**Author Note: - So... the first game between Yami and Bakura. **

**BTW I think Ba-Khu-Ra means something like 'he whose spirit is like Ra' but I can't remember. I kind of lost where I first read it but the name suited the spirit of the Ring so… **

**EDIT: - Someone mentioned that the name of the Spirit of the Ring is Afekia, however I looked through the manga and the anime and couldn't find any mention of the Ring spirit's name, but apparently Afekia is the name used often in fanfiction. However, since it's not cannon I will continue to use Ba-Khu-Ra, since it both fits him answering to 'Bakura' in the memory arc and the sheer arrogance of a name like that suits the spirit of the Ring.  
**


	15. MAZE Daze

"No, Yugi." The small Shadow Mage froze as his friend approached, her tone icy and her eyes glaring, "You can't expect me to hang around with him. It's not fair!"

Tea had almost missed school on Saturday, but she'd managed to talk her mother into letting her go.

Now, as she faced down Yugi, she wished she hadn't. Not when Yugi wanted to bring Bakura into their group of friends. After everything the spirit of Bakura's Millennium Ring had done to her, she didn't want to be within a few hundred yards of the boy.

Yugi probably would have bowed to her request too. He was so unsure around his friends that he tended to follow what they wanted rather than risk fighting with them. After he'd helped Bakura free the other souls that had been trapped within the game pieces of Bakura's Monster World RPG however, he'd made a promise to help Bakura with his magic and the spirit of the Ring who apparently shared a name with his host.

As Tea knew far too well, Yugi didn't break his promises.

It didn't help that while she was letting her thoughts on the matter clear, none of the others were getting involved in the row. A row that was less like a fight and more like her shouting at Yugi, who looked a little lost, as if he didn't know what to do or say.

"But it wasn't..." Yugi tried to defend the other boy but she didn't give him a chance.

"I know it wasn't!" Tea snapped back, noting the way the others glanced around as the pair spoke, hoping there was no one around to hear them, "But Bakura's ghost isn't like Yami! He doesn't play nice with his host!" She glowered at him, "He just takes control whenever he feels like it!"

"But…"

"And he wants your Puzzle!" Tea continued, "He tried to kill you! How can you trust him?"

"It was the spirit of the Ring, not Bakura who tried to kill me." Yugi replied, "And I promised I'd help Bakura stand up to the spirit."

"You didn't think the rest of us might object?" Tea demanded.

"Hey don't drag me into this." Joey held up his hands in protest. "As long as Yami can trounce the spirit of the Ring, I don't care."

"What about you two?" Tea wheeled around to look at Sakura and Tomoyo.

"Well… it is safer for everyone if Bakura sticks close to Yugi…" Sakura started.

"Fine." Tea glowered at her friends. "I'm going home."

"But Tea…" Yugi took a step forward, almost pleading with his first real friend.

"No, Yugi!" Tea shook her head, shifting her bag on her back, "I'm not hanging around with him until he has some control over his ghost. If you're going to hang around him, then I'm not sticking with you either!" With that Tea left, leaving a crushed looking Yugi behind.

"Sorry." Bakura said, his voice quiet. "Maybe I should…" He turned to go.

"Don't." Joey shook his head. "She probably needs time to think. She'll come around." He left off 'I hope'.

**LINE****_RECOGNITION_HAS_GONE_AGAIN**

It wasn't like Tea was oblivious to what had happened last night. Sakura had filled her in on the fact that Bakura was possessed like Yugi, and it had been the spirit of the Ring that had challenged her to a Shadow Game, not the boy himself and she was fully aware that Yugi had risked his life last night in order to save her and Li.

She even knew that Yugi had pushed himself too far by helping Bakura free everyone that the Ring spirit had imprisoned in those little Monster World figurines, hence why he'd been late to school this morning.

Tea had just had enough.

She just couldn't understand how Yugi could be so calm around the other item wielder when the spirit of the Millennium Ring, who was apparently also called Bakura, had challenged and almost killed him last night.

And though she had been informed that Bakura wasn't the one who had challenged her to a Shadow Game and trapped her Soul in a figurine for some board game, it didn't help Tea's nerves at all that the person who had done it was the spirit of the Millennium Ring. The spirit who could take control of Bakura at any time he wished, since Bakura never took the Ring _off_. Now Bakura was, at Yugi's insistence, hanging around with her and her friends. Yugi was convinced that he and Yami could handle the other Millennium Spirit if he got out of hand again.

In theory she understood that Yugi **was** right, it was better for Bakura to be friends with someone who could stand up to the spirit of the Ring then for him to make all new friends and have the other spirit steal their souls too, but it was too much for her.

She had had a nice, if slightly boring, normal life before Yugi had completed the Puzzle and Sakura had released the Clow Cards and, though she didn't want to stay away from her friends, the fact of the matter was that she couldn't handle this any longer and she didn't know how Tomoyo did it.

Joey she could understand. He hadn't been around as long as she had so he hadn't been through as much as she had, and he lived with Yugi so he didn't have much of a choice other then to put up with it unless he wanted to go back to his father's flat in Domino (assuming that his father still even _had_ a flat).

Sakura had little choice. She'd accepted that weirdness was going to be a part of her life when she'd agreed to capture the Clow Cards and as long as Tomoyo could record the weird events she seemed perfectly happy to be involved.

Not that Tea hadn't wanted to be involved. She liked her friends, she really did. But when she'd signed up to their brand of weirdness there had been no mention of anyone having their soul stuffed in an inanimate object.

If she was honest she was just sick of it all.

Sick of magic. Sick of trouble. Sick of everything.

As much as she would miss the adventures, she just didn't want to deal with this stuff any more.

It wasn't like Yugi needed her anymore. He had the others - Sakura, Tomoyo, Joey _and_ Yami to look after him. Just last week Yami had dealt with a bully that had caught Yugi unaware and Joey never left Yugi's side when he could help it, half out of nervousness about being in a new town and half out of loyalty to the boy who was a good friend and who had taken him in when he'd been in trouble.

So what use was she to Yugi now?

The thoughts running through her mind as she left her friends were not reassuring ones.

The others left the school grounds soon after her. Sakura had heard from one of their classmates that Tsukimine shrine sold charms that were supposed to help in romance and she was going to pick one up on their way to Yugi's house, where he was planning on showing Bakura some of his books on meditation. He figured that if they had helped him become more aware when Yami was in control of his body, there might be something in them that could help Bakura.

No one really knew what to say as they headed down the road. Tomoyo and Sakura felt a little awkward around Bakura, but hadn't wanted to say anything, Joey wanted to reassure Yugi but didn't really know Tea well enough to be certain of anything, Yugi was miserable, since it was the first real fight he'd had with his friends and Bakura was wondering if he should just tell Yugi to forget about helping him, since it seemed to cause trouble for the other Millennium Item wielder.

Not that it really mattered once they reached the shrine, since the moment they stepped through the archway the world warped around them and a bright light temporarily blinded them.

When the light died down, they were in a maze with odd green wall that were slightly springy.

"A Clow Card?" Tomoyo asked as Sakura called her staff.

"Obviously." A voice behind them caused them to jump.

Yugi wheeled around, only for Yami to complete the action and glower at the speaker. "Li." He said with bare hostility, unsurprising considering that Li had been causing trouble for Yugi all day.

"Where…?" Joey asked, surprise obvious.

"He was following us." Yami tensed up at the second voice, looking at Bakura quickly, and swiftly getting between his friends and the boy who wasn't Bakura any longer. "He has been since you had that argument with Gardener." Ba-Khu-Ra smirked at Li who took a step back.

"Leave him alone, Bakura." Yami growled. "Getting out of here is much more important then your petty schemes."

Ba-Khu-Ra gave the Pharaoh an insulted look. "You think I'd be stupid enough to start something here?" He asked, ill amused.

As the two of them descended into a glaring match Sakura, warily, turned away to consider the maze.

"We should just blast our way through." Li commented, wanting to get away from the crazy item wielders as soon as possible.

Sakura nodded, calling on the SWORD card, which could, supposedly, cut through anything.

Both Yami and Ba-Khu-Ra wheeled around as she slashed at the wall, "Don't cheat!"

It was a little late for that as Sakura's blade slashed through the wall, cutting a path temporarily, until the wall joined back together with an odd squelch and the world around them started shifting.

"What the…?" Yami demanded as both the Ring and the Puzzle started glowing of their own accords.

He didn't get an answer as the floor shifted under them and the group was split up. Li, Tomoyo and Yami were dragged off in one direction and Sakura, Joey and Ba-Khu-Ra another.

"What did you do?" Li demanded of Yami once the world had stopped moving around them.

Yami, rather than answering, examined the world around them. It was uncomfortably familiar to the Pharaoh, with its sandstone stairways and hundreds of doors. It was both his prison while Yugi wasn't wearing the Puzzle and it wasn't at the same time.

"A replica." Yami mused aloud, confusing Li. "I suppose if anything the Millennium Items could come up with that's maze like it would be this place, but it does give me the advantage."

"What are you talking about?" Li demanded, looking around, "What did you do?" He asked again, glowering at the nameless Pharaoh, who scowled back at him.

"I did nothing." Yami replied, watching his temper only because Yugi asked him to. "The Ring and the Puzzle acted on their own. Probably because you and Sakura tried to cheat your way through the maze."

"You're telling me that the Millennium Items warped the MAZE card because they objected to taking a short cut?" Li gave him a disbelieving look.

"Shadow magic has always been closely tied with games and battle." Yami snorted back, uncaring if Li believed him or not but wanting out of this replica of the inside of the Puzzle as soon as possible. "It's quite possible that the Millennium Items considered The MAZE a type of challenge and when you advised Sakura to cheat her way through, they changed the game."

"Using a Clow Card to beat a Clow Card isn't cheating." Li objected.

"If it allows you to do something that breaks the rules, like breaking down walls, it is." Yami pointed out.

Li just scowled at him and stomped off. Tomoyo looked between the pair, unsure what to do or what to say. Yami just waved her concern off and went to follow Li, if only to stop him doing something else stupid, only to pause when Yugi's mental voice reached him.

"_Yami? Let me take over."_

Yami paused, a little confused. _'Aibou?'_

"_I'll switch with you if it gets dangerous, but I can sense how much Li irritates you." _Yugi sounded amused, _"Let me deal with him for the time being."_

'_He dislikes both of us.'_

"_He doesn't know there's two of us."_ Yugi pointed out, _"The person he dislikes is 'Mutou Yugi' which can refer to either of us, since we both use my name. Besides, Li doesn't irritate me as much. I can handle him for longer and we need to find the others before we make our own way out of here."_

Yami snorted, _'If he kicks up any trouble, or we run into the Thief King...'_

"_Don't worry. I'll switch in an instant."_ Yugi promised.

Yami switched over with Yugi and the eleven year old caught up to Li, who had stormed off ahead and was now considering the doors that were embedded in the walls, and Tomoyo, who was still watching the pair of them as if she expected them to start brawling at any second.

"Where do they lead?" Li demanded of Yugi who passed the question on to Yami, only to get a really helpful reply.

"I have no idea."

**LINE_RECOGNITION_HAS_GONE_AGAIN**

"If you..."

"I would suggest, unless you plan on fighting me, that you stop right there, Wheeler." Ba-Khu-Ra growled, ill amused by the world around them, easily able to sense the way that the Shadows were interweaving with a darkness that wasn't part of them, but a separate power that was being boosted by the older, stronger magic, rather than being absorbed by it, and wondering if he should have paid more attention to the nameless Pharaoh's friends since they seemed to know what this magic was.

The Thief King wheeled around and glowered at Sakura as he realised that the same darkness that weaved among the Shadows was supporting her Stars as well, "What is going on?"

Joey considered Bakura carefully as he put himself between her and the Thief. He didn't like the spirit of the Ring and, understandably, he didn't want to tell the spirit anything about the Clow Cards in case he decided he wanted those as well as Yugi's Puzzle.

Sakura put her hand on Joey's arm, moving to his side as she did so. Joey was acting brave, but he had no magic, he couldn't fight Bakura as effectively as she could, "We get magical events happening all the time." She offered, "We," And by that she meant her whole group of friends, "Normally deal with it."

"Your magic uses the same darkness this," Bakura gestured at the maze surrounding them, "Don't tell me you don't know what it is."

Sakura took a step back as the Ring glowed dangerously, but it was Joey who answered, "Your magic's the same as Yuge's does that mean you know everything he does?"

Ba-Khu-Ra scowled at him but acknowledged his point, the glow from his Ring dying down.

"There's lots of magic in Tomoeda." Joey continued, "Sakura's Stars and your Shadows are just two of them." The blonde shifted into a defensive stance, glancing warily at the Ring, not really wanting to get on the wrong side of the spirit of the Ring but, at the same time he didn't want the other Millennium Spirit to target Sakura, "Things like this happen often. We end up dealing with it. As far as we know, no one else can." Joey shrugged it off, trying to distract the thief.

Ba-Khu-Ra snorted and turned away from the boy to consider the girl again, becoming amused when she gained a scared look.

Spending time around the group in the guise of his host, he had gotten a feel for the group and the magic that weaved around them, especially since, now he didn't need to attract other Shadow wielders in the area since he knew and went to school with the only one around here, he had no need to waste magic by letting it run rampant through the city.

As the tide of Shadows receded it was easier to sense other brands of magic within the group of friends, be it the Puzzle holder's Light, the blonde boy's Chaos or the brunette with the green eyes' Starlight, not that he was convinced that the other two girls involved in the group were completely non magical, in fact he was certain that he'd known someone whose aura was very similar to the black haired girl.

He had no concern about the group as a whole. There was plenty of powerful mages in the group, but the only one that could possibly have matched the power of his Millennium Ring didn't have the knowledge necessary to tap into the full power of his own Millennium item.

Not that that meant Ba-Khu-Ra thought that he had the advantage over the Pharaoh by any stretch of the imagination. 'Yami' may have been missing the knowledge to draw on the incredible, unmatched power of the Puzzle, but the spirit's instincts were sharp enough that he could protect both himself and his host from anything.

That was fine. The spirit of the Millennium Ring was more than happy to stick around and keep an eye on the Puzzle, waiting for the other Millennium items to show up. Now the Pharaoh had reincarnated they would be drawn to the Puzzle, finally completed after five thousand years. He wouldn't even have to leave Tomoeda. He could stick around, letting his host play nicely with the Pharaoh's own and the other items would come to him.

And, once he had the other five Millennium Items, he would challenge the Pharaoh again.

And he would win.

However he couldn't do anything until he got out of _here_.

"Neither of you have anything I want." The Thief King smirked at the pair, amused when the blonde blanched slightly and the girl took a step back, "So unless you get in my way, I won't challenge you. However I suggest, if you like your souls where they are, you won't challenge me either."

"I won't let you harm Yugi." Joey growled at the Tomb Robber.

Ba-Khu-Ra's only response was to snort at the boy in amusement, then started making his way through the maze, using the Millennium Ring to locate the Pharaoh.

Joey pulled at face at the thief's back, not trusting him as far as he could throw him, then followed him, if only to make sure that he didn't challenge anyone else either.

**LINE_RECOGNITION_HAS_GONE_AGAIN**

'_Yugi!'_

Yugi relinquished control momentarily, allowing Yami to yank Tomoyo and Li back just in time to prevent them from being squashed by the huge block that had landed just inside the doorway they had been about to walk through, before taking the lead again and backing up quickly as Li advanced on him furiously.

"Maze isn't supposed to be an offensive card!" Li snarled, his fraying temper completely unravelled after the latest of the traps that seemed to be behind almost every door, "No traps! No staircases that leave you on the ceiling! None of... of this!" He emphasised every statement with a poke, pushing Yugi backwards, towards the edge behind them, "And this is all your fault!"

Yami seized control as Yugi's foot slipped on the edge of the ledge and panic coursed through the boy when he glanced over his shoulder and saw how far it was to the floor below.

"This is not my fault." Yami shoved back, moving away from the edge, "You're the one who tried to cheat!"

"Li-San! Yugi!" Tomoyo got between them, "Now's not the time."

"Yes, it is." Li pushed past her. "There's no exit to this maze, we're trapped in his 'Game'."

"There is an exit." Yami snapped back, catching Tomoyo's arm to stop her stumbling too far, "And this isn't my Game. I have no control over what's going on."

"It's your focus that caused this! This has to be your fault!"

"This is not my fault." Yami growled, his tone low and dangerous and the Puzzle glowing, "And if you... Aibou?"

Yugi, sensing Yami's intentions, had taken spirit form and put himself between the Pharaoh and Li.

"_No, Yami."_ Yugi shook his head, nervously standing up to his guardian, _"You mustn't."_

'_He would have pushed you over the edge.'_ Yami growled, causing Yugi to realise that the Pharaoh's anger was more due to Li's attitude towards him rather than Li's insistence that this was their fault. _'And a fall like that...'_

Yami didn't need to elaborate but Yugi didn't move. 

"Yugi?" Tomoyo asked when she worked out that it wasn't Li that Yami was frowning at, raising her camera and looking through the viewfinder only to see that Yami was looking at Yugi who was stood, arms spread wide, between Yami and Li. "Yugi?"

The second time she asked the way she said it, her tone full of concern and surprise, made both Yami and Yugi look at her, then Yami's frown softened.

'_Alright, Aibou.'_ Yami said, turning back to the boy who allowed him to share his body, _'But if he does it again...'_

"_Thank you Yami."_ Yugi slipped back into control and Tomoyo breathed a sigh of relief.

Li, who was completely oblivious to just how close he had just come to losing his soul, however was just confused and angry that he was being ignored and stomped off, opening one of the nearby doors and stepping through it, only to fall through the floor.

Yugi was there in a heartbeat, slamming into the ground as he dove to the floor, managing to get a hold on Li's wrist, both boys letting out a pained yell as their shoulders wrenched.

"Hang on!"

Fear coursed through Li as he dangled in mid air, the only thing stopping him from falling to his death was Yugi's hand on his wrist.

"Li!" Yugi tried to reach for Li's other hand, "Take my hand! Please!"

The strain in Yugi's voice was evident as Li stared at him, confused.

When the floor had given out under him he'd thought that was it and now the one person he'd constantly maligned and pushed around was saving his life?

"Li please!" Yugi pleaded, unable to reach Li's other hand, his grip slipping.

"I've got it." Relief coursed through both boys as Tomoyo, who had discarded her camera, grabbed Li's other hand. The pair pulled and, once Li managed to get his hands on the edge, he pulled himself up. The three children retreated to the ledge, where they sank to their knees.

"Are you alright?" Yugi asked, pain darkened amethyst eyes watching him as their owner's hand went to his side where he'd hit the floor.

"You saved me?" Li asked, shocked, his shoulder killing him, "Why?"

"Because you were in trouble." Yugi blinked at him.

The pair stared at each other for a few moments, as Tomoyo recovered her camera but didn't get to talk further as the others came around the corner.

Tomoyo rushed over to her friend, the pair hugging each other, as Joey darted over to Yugi's side.

"You ok, Yuge?"

Yami took control as soon as Ba-Khu-Ra came into view. He winced as he got to his feet, ready to fight, but was quickly surprised when Li got between him and the Thief King.

"You..." Li practically radiated fury, but whatever he was going to say was drowned out by a ringing bell.

Everyone froze as it rang again.

"Where's that coming from?" Joey demanded of everyone.

"It's not a sound you'd normally hear here." Yami scowled, trying to pinpoint where it was coming from. _'And I would know.'_

His aibou sent reassurance over the link but it didn't help much. Yami lived here, or somewhere that looked very much like here, and he'd always, always known where the door out of this maze and into the corridor between his and Yugi's mind had been.

Such knowledge had always helped him relax when he'd wandered the halls of the Puzzle when Yugi was in school and kept him from going crazy when Yugi had to take off the Puzzle and he was locked inside the maze.

Now however, he didn't have it and it was making him nervous. It didn't help that Ba-Khu-Ra was here and the last time the two of them had met the Thief King had tried to kill Yugi. If you added Li's actions earlier to the mix, it was enough to have the Pharaoh rather irritable.

"If it's not a sound you'd normally hear here," Sakura spoke up, "Then maybe we should find out where it's coming from. The exit might be close."

**LINE_RECOGNITION_HAS_GONE_AGAIN**

"Kaho?"

When Kaiya had phoned him to say that none of the children had made it to her house and had they arrived there instead, Toya hadn't known what to expect, but it hadn't been to run into Mizuki Kaho at the Tsukimine Shrine.

"Toya. It's been a long time." Kaho gave him a brilliant smile, only serving to confuse Toya further, his eyes falling to the bell in her hand when she rang it. The sound echoed in a way that seemed to reach him on a whole different level.

"It's called the Moon Bell." Kaho explained, "It should be able to pierce that," She gestured to the wall behind her which looked like it was built of sandstone and whose doorway was full of swirling shadows, "But there's something in there that shouldn't be and..." She shrugged helplessly.

Toya's mind was refusing to move past the fact that Mizuki Kaho was in Tomoeda. "You're back?"

The woman chuckled. She could understand Toya's confusion. They had been a couple a couple of years back, before she had gone to England to study, however now was not the right moment for the pair of them to talk, "I am. I have a teaching job nearby that I'm due to start soon, at Tomoeda Elementa..."

Kaho trailed off as a group of six children piled out of the door, the group wheeling around to face it as one of them pointed her staff at the wall and cried out, "Return to the guise you were meant to be! MAZE Card!"

The wall turned into white smoke which drained into a card at the end of her staff, which then floated into Sakura's hands.

"Kinomoto Sakura!"

Sakura winced at her brother's tone and the other children jumped a mile. Toya's eyes swept the group and he found himself unsurprised when he spotted everyone, except... "Where's Gardener-San?"

"She and Yuge had a fight, so she didn't come with us." Joey spoke up, trying to ignore the glowering contest that was going on between Yami and Ba-Khu-Ra. A glowering contest that ended when the Thief King decided he'd had enough and left, stalking past Toya and leaving.

"Mutou." Toya called, distracting him, "Your mother's worried sick."

Yami nodded and relinquished control to Yugi, who was about to phone his mother when Li grabbed his arm and pulled him away from the others.

"Mutou, I need to tell you something."

Yugi nodded, well aware that Yami was watching what was going on, just in case Li tried anything.

"The man who attacked my family, he's an American called Pegasus, he's collecting Millennium Items."

"Thanks for the warning." Yugi nodded, about to dial his mother's number when Li spoke again.

"That's not all." Li said, "He knows where you are."

"What?" Yugi's yelp attracted the attention of the rest of the group, who turned their way, "What do...? How?"

"I told him."

"Why?" Yugi, who was stunned by Li's words, didn't hold Yami back any longer, the furious Pharaoh demanded an answer the moment he took control, the Puzzle glowing brightly, the Shadows dancing. "Why would you hand another family to him? Do you hate us that much?"

"Yu..." Joey went to try to calm Yami down, only to find he couldn't get to the pair, "Oh boy."

Li backed up, having seen the Shadows before and panicking. "He swore he'd release my family if I told him of any Millennium Item holders I came across!"

Yami scowled deepened but he ushered away his Shadows, "And you believed him." It was a statement rather than a question and Li looked miserable as he nodded, stating clearly that 'Pegasus' hadn't kept his word.

Yami just turned away from Li, unsure how to feel and wanting nothing more than to get home and check on Yugi's mother, a feeling that was backed up by his aibou.

"Go." Toya told Yami as he stalked over to Joey.

"Kinomoto-San?"

"I understand, just go. I'll explain everything."

"Thank you." Yami nodded.

"Toya? What is going on?" Kaho asked as Yami and Joey raced back to Yugi's house.

"It's a long story." Toya warned her.

"I have nowhere to go."

**LINE_RECOGNITION_HAS_GONE_AGAIN**

**Author Note: - oh dear.**

PS Sorry for the long time between updates, this chapter did not want to come out. Maybe the next one will be more reasonable. After the 19**th**** May I'll have more time anyway. Final Exam on that day. So scary it's capitalised...**


	16. TIME Trials

Yugi was considering running away. When Li had told him last night that 'Pegasus', the American who had put all of his family into a coma because he'd thought that they had a Millennium Item was coming after him next, he'd seriously considered it. He'd even waited until Joey had fallen asleep and packed a bag, ready to leave so his friends and family would be safe.

He had been all ready to leave when Yami had pointed out that if he left there would be nothing to stop Pegasus attacking his family anyway. It would be easy to lure him back by threatening them, or even just attacking outright.

That didn't mean the thought wasn't still running around his head. In fact the bag he'd packed last night was still packed, in case it proved safer for his family for him to leave.

"Got your keys, Yuge?" Joey asked as they stepped onto the porch, giving him a small smile, well aware that Yugi was on edge but oblivious to Yugi's back up plan.

Yugi nodded and pulled his house keys out of his school bag, only to freeze as Yami called to him.

'_Yugi wait.'_ Yami sounded concerned as Yugi noticed the door was ajar. The boy froze momentarily and then relinquished control to Yami, who pushed his way into the house.

"Mutou-San?" Joey called as he followed Yami in, looking around, confused as to why anyone would be around at this time of day considering that Yugi's mother didn't normally get off of work until much later.

A woman's scream answered him.

"Okaasan!" Yami yelled as he shot into the living room, only to get blasted backwards into the wall behind him by a wave of shadows, slamming his head against it hard, causing him to crumple in a heap at the bottom of the wall, still conscious, but only just.

"Yuge!" Joey yelped, getting between Yami and the cloaked figure who was stood in the living, holding the limp form of Yugi's mother. The figure tossed Kaiya aside and stalked towards them.

"J...Joey, run!" Yugi managed to stagger into control, his body just about moving under his command better than it had under the command of the concussed Pharaoh, but not by much.

"**Yugi...?"**

"What did you do to Mutou-San!" Joey demanded, shaking his head at Yugi, only to cry out when the cloaked figure's left eye glowed with a bright golden light and a sphere of light emerged from Joey's chest and sank into the card the stranger was holding. Joey's body hit the floor as the stranger moved towards his real prey.

"N...no!" Yugi shook his head, as the man seized him by the collar and pulled him to his feet, the Shadows starting weaving around the pair of them. Yugi's world spun as his head ached and pain coursed through him, the same 'sickness' that had struck him in previous Shadow Games hitting him now. The man's eye started glowing again as Yugi struggled to escape, desperately calling Yami, trying to bring him around, needing the Pharaoh's help.

"**Yugi."**

"I'm surprised the Puzzle picked such a weak holder," The man sniggered as Yugi shook his head, trying to clear some of the dizziness and only succeeded in making himself feel sicker, "But no matter, the Puzzle will be mine soon enough..." The man dropped him as the game pieces set themselves up and Yugi hit the floor hard, "Let's..."

"**YUGI!" **

Yugi started awake, sitting bolt upright and gasping for breath just momentarily before falling back onto his pillow, his hand touching the Puzzle, which he'd fallen asleep wearing, as he realised that he'd been dreaming. He closed his eyes, trying to control the fear that still coursed through him, not wanting to worry Yami.

"That must have been one hell of a nightmare." Joey told him from where he was stood, halfway over to Yugi's bed, concern obvious, "The Puzzle was reacting like mad."

Yugi sat up slowly, nodding as he did so and shaking slightly as he watched his friend, confirming with his own eyes that it had just been a dream and that Joey was alright.

"_Y...Yami?"_ Yugi sent over the link as he headed downstairs, still in his pyjamas, needing to see his mother was okay for himself.

'_It was just a nightmare Aibou.'_ Yami informed him, sounding both worried and frustrated, _'I would have broken it when you cried out for me, but you'd blocked me out. I couldn't get into your mind...'_

Yami trailed off as Yugi caught sight of his mother, concern returning as the boy darted across the kitchen and hugged his mother tightly, tears flowing down his cheeks.

"Yugi?" Kaiya hugged him back, "What's the matter?"

"He had a nightmare." Joey informed her, having followed Yugi downstairs and sounding worried, "Looked pretty bad to me."

Kaiya nodded, tightening her grip on her son, "It's alright, Yugi." She murmured, rubbing his back, "Everything's alright."

_"Yami?"_ Yugi called after a few minutes, as his tears dried out.

'_Yes, Aibou?'_ Yami asked softly, concern overriding his frustration.

"_Sorry..."_

'_For what?'_ Yami asked, confused.

"_I should have realised it was just a dream, especially considering it's a Sunday today..."_ Yugi replied as he pulled away from Kaiya and sat down at the table, settling for watching his mother flit around as she made breakfast. _"I'm sorry I scared you..."_

'_Sometimes dreams feel so real that it's hard to distinguish dream from reality.' _Yami sighed,_ 'But next time you're that scared, try listening for my voice. I promise even if you've blocked me out I'll find some way to reach you, okay?'_

"_Thank you."_

**LINE_RECOGNITION_HAS_GONE_AGAIN**

"I don't remember this being part of the plan." Joey half complained as he helped Sakura clean the dishes and Tomoyo and Yugi finished cleaning the kitchen.

"I did say you lot should go have the picnic without me." Sakura did point out as Kero flew the last of the dry dishes from Sakura's hands to the cupboard, "But Toya did cover all my chores yesterday afternoon and he did promise Yukito-San he'd take him out somewhere. I think it's Yukito-San's way of getting my brother to take a day off of work."

"Like we'd leave you behind on such a nice day." Tomoyo waved it off with a chuckle, "We don't mind, right guys?" She asked the other two, trying to poke Yugi into joining the conversation.

Yugi, however, just shook his head. His thoughts were still on the nightmare he'd had and even as he spent time with his friends he was feeling guiltier and guiltier about risking their safety by sticking around.

"Of course not." Joey shook his head with a grin he didn't feel, especially since he'd found Yugi's backpack, ready packed, and confronted him about it.

It wasn't comforting knowing that your best line of defence against the other Item holders was thinking of making a break for it, even if it was because he wanted to protect them. He'd told Yugi he'd stay out of the way, but he had to admit that the stunt he'd pulled in Yugi's dream was something he would do in that situation.

Of course they hadn't told the girls about it. Sakura and Tomoyo had enough to worry about as it was, what with Sakura having a rival for the Clow Cards, they didn't need this piled on them as well.

"Sakura..." Yugi called, speaking up for the first time in over an hour as they started, very carefully, dusting the shelves in Kinomoto-Sensei's office, as he picked up a piece of card, "I think this is yours." He said as he handed it to her.

"WOOD." Kero cheered, "I wondered where she'd show up."

Sakura examined the picture on the card, which was of a woman with leaves for hair, "WOOD?"

"She's really peaceful." Kero explained as Sakura wrote her name on it, "She likes nothing more than to grow trees and relax in the sun. We're lucky she didn't get wet though, or worse, run into RAIN, otherwise there would have been a huge mess."

"Why?"

"She'd have just kept growing and growing." Kero chuckled, "It's quite possible that the house would have been overrun."

"Definitely lucky then," Sakura agreed, "If I'd made a mess in here, Dad would have been furious!"

They finished up in the office and finally headed out for their picnic, heading into Penguin Park and settling down by the playground, watching as parents took the day off to bring their children out for a picnic or to play with their friends.

It was here that Yugi finally started relaxing, unable to stay so het up while Joey was pulling stunts like hanging upside down off of the monkey bars while attempting to eat ice cream and successfully getting it up his nose.

Right up until Tea walked past.

Yugi was halfway to his feet to go and talk to her when Li's words echoed in his head. Pegasus knew where he was now and anyone who Yugi kept close would be in danger...

"Yugi?" Tomoyo asked as Yugi sat down again heavily and watched Tea go by.

"You remember what Li told me last night?" Yugi asked.

Tomoyo nodded understandingly. She'd been sharing everything that had happened with her bodyguards, some of whom believed it, some of whom were playing along to 'keep the Boss's daughter happy' and they had been rather worried when she'd told them about the threat Pegasus posed.

They had gone out of their way to find out as much as they could about the man overnight. In another couple of days Tomoyo reckoned that she would have some helpful information for her friends. She just hoped that that was fast enough.

"You should talk to her though. I mean Bakura's not with us."

Yugi gave a light sigh at that reminder. When he'd invited Bakura along the white haired boy had bowed out, claiming that he was doing things with his parents today but if Yugi remembered rightly Bakura's father was in Egypt on a dig, not that he'd known Bakura's father was an Egyptologist like his Grandfather, and Bakura's mother had passed away a year or so before Bakura had moved to Tomoeda.

"Hey! Gard..."

The skies, which had been cloud free a moment ago, opened up and Joey's call was lost in the sound of children screaming in protest as everyone got soaked. The gang packed up quickly and dove under the King Penguin slide, which had been one of Sakura's favourite hiding places for years.

Joey looked around as he realised that he and the girls were surrounded by children who had followed them but they seemed to be missing someone.

"Hey. Where's Yugi?"

**LINE_RECOGNITION_HAS_GONE_AGAIN**

"Hi Tea." Yugi, who had taken cover from the rain by diving under the shelf on the climbing frame, found himself face to face with Tea, who looked less than amused.

"Mutou-San." She nodded back.

Yami sensed the hurt that that simple, polite greeting had caused his aibou and growled, causing Yugi to quickly hide his feelings from the Pharaoh.

"How're you?"

"I'm fine." Tea replied, "How's your training going with Bakura?"

"I thought it was going well, but..." Yugi shook his head, wondering if he'd done something wrong to make Bakura avoid them.

"A problem?" Tea asked, sounding concerned before remembering she was mad that the boy she was talking to.

"I don't think so." Yugi replied thoughtfully, seeing no reason not to talk to her about it. "At least I hope not..."

"You're too nice for your own good, Yugi." Tea informed him, "You're going to get hurt some day if you're not careful."

"I promised..."

"I know you did and if you broke it you wouldn't be you, but I just want you to be careful, alright?" Yugi nodded at Tea's words.

"Tea... " Yugi hesitated for a moment, then made up his mind. She needed to be warned even if she stopped talking to him. "You need to be careful too. Li told the guy who attacked his family about me and I'm worried..." He trailed off when he saw the look on Tea's face, which was an odd combination of fear for herself and concern for him.

Without saying another word she left the shelter, unsure what to say or do and knowing that it wouldn't matter what she did, Yugi would still get into trouble. It wasn't that she was still mad at him. She was just frightened, both for him and of him, and until she settled the latter she wasn't going to be able to hang around with him.

Yugi darted out into the rain after her but she was faster than him and it wasn't long before she moved out of sight.

**LINE_RECOGNITION_HAS_GONE_AGAIN**

"You sure you're alright, Yuge?" Joey asked for the fifth time in the last hour, "I mean..."

Yugi sighed. He was aware that he'd been skittish all day, but it was understandable. It didn't help his mental state that he hadn't slept properly, "I'm fine." He told his friend, "Just tired is all."

Joey nodded, understanding as he climbed into bed. "Good night Yuge."

"Night Joey." Yugi clicked off the light and tried to meditate, only to fall asleep before he could get too far.

**LINE_RECOGNITION_HAS_GONE_AGAIN**

"J...Joey, run!" Yugi managed to stagger into control, his body just about moving under his command better than it had under the command of the concussed Pharaoh, but not by much.

"What did you do to Mutou-San!" Joey demanded, shaking his head at Yugi, only to cry out when the figure's eye glowed with a bright golden light and collapse.

"N...no!" Yugi shook his head, trying to force himself to his feet.

'_**Aibou! Wake up!'**_

He almost made it to safety this time. Only the fact he stumbled allowed the man's hands to wrap around his throat but once they were there his captor pinned him against the wall. Yugi choked as his assailant's grip cut off any chance he had of drawing breath. He struggled though as the Shadows closed in around them, unwilling to just give up and relieved to hear Yami's voice, as the Pharaoh had promised, even as fear coursed through him and the man's eye started glowing again.

"_YAMI! HELP!"_

The Pharaoh wrenched control away from his partner in the dream and Yugi started awake in real life, shaking his head as he did so, trying to clear it.

"Damn, Yuge, two mornings in a row?" Joey complained, having been woken up by the glowing Puzzle again, "What're you eating before bed? They say cheese gives you nightmares..."

Yugi just shrugged, shaking slightly. "Sorry."

"Come on, we'll check on Mutou-San then we'll get ready for school." Joey shrugged, pulling Yugi out of the bedroom and downstairs to the kitchen were, instead of preparing their bentos for the day, Kaiya was preparing a large breakfast.

"Everything alright boys?" She asked, confused when a pale looking Yugi and a confused Joey stood in the doorway.

"Yugi just had another nightmare and..."

"Another one?" Kaiya asked, coming straight over to hug her son, "Why didn't you tell me about the first one."

"We did but..." Joey trailed off as a confused Yugi hugged his mother back. "What time are you off to work?"

"Work?" Kaiya chuckled, "It's a Sunday!"

"No, yesterday was Sunday." Joey frowned as Yugi pulled away from his mother and gave her a concerned look.

"No, yesterday was Saturday remember? I had awful trouble getting you up for school."

"But we went to the park for a picnic yesterday."

"I thought you were doing that this afternoon. All the sandwiches are in the fridge." Kaiya gestured towards the fridge.

Yami, who'd appeared in spirit form in the kitchen when Yugi's concern had spiked about his mother, watched as Yugi checked the fridge only to find the sandwiches for the picnic still there.

"There's something weird going on here." Yugi said, "We had the picnic yesterday and yet the sandwiches are in the fridge again today."

"You sure you didn't dream the picnic?"

"Yes." Yugi nodded, shuddering slightly at the memory of his dream and wondering what was going on, "Joey, call Sakura would..." He cut off as the phone went off.

Joey didn't need to phone Sakura, she'd already called them, wondering if they were having the same issue. Apparently Tomoyo had phoned to check if their plans were still on.

"Yes we're having the same problem." Joey nodded, though Sakura couldn't see him, "Mutou-San doesn't remember and Yugi had the same nightmare he had yesterday."

Yugi gave Joey a shocked look and Joey mouthed back 'guessing'. Yugi nodded and Joey continued his conversation.

"Sure we can meet up. See you in half an hour? Okay. Bye." He put the phone down and turned to speak to Yugi.

"I heard." Yugi nodded, before turning to look at his mother, "Guess we'll have to eat fast."

**LINE_RECOGNITION_HAS_GONE_AGAIN**

"The TIME?"

"That's right." Kero nodded, watching as the same parents that had brought their children to the park yesterday, brought their children again today except... "It can rewind time by a whole day and it would explain why Mutou-San and Tomoyo don't remember yesterday at all." Kero looked at Joey, "It does say something interesting about you though."

"Me?"

"Only people with magic are supposed to be able to tell when TIME resets events."

"Oh no." Joey shook his head hard, "I'm not a mage."

"You have to have some sort of magic otherwise you wouldn't remember yesterday...today at all." Kero replied in a matter of fact way, "We just don't know what kind yet. Toya has to be magical too."

Sakura paused, her eyes widening for a moment, then she nodded, "He asked me to thank you all for helping with the chores yesterday..."

"So how do we stop the card?" Yami interrupted, making a note to apologise to Joey later, and borrowing control since Yugi still seemed understandably stunned from the events of the last couple of days. The Pharaoh was, honestly, a little ticked off that it was a Clow Card that had forced Yugi back into the nightmare which, this time around, Yugi had shared with him after waking.

Sakura shrugged a little helplessly and looked at Kero, who looked a little unsure himself.

"TIME's powers work better the higher he is." The gathered group turned to look at the speaker, only to find Li was walking over to them, "And he'd have headed for the biggest clock," Li continued as he sat down, nodding to Yami as he did so, surprising the Pharaoh, who glowered at the boy once the moment had passed, still furious at the kid for giving Yugi up to Pegasus but holding back because Yugi didn't want anyone hurt because of him, "So if you know somewhere like that we could probably capture it now, before it has a chance to reset time again."

"There's the old clock tower." Sakura said thoughtfully as Kero looked Joey over, "It's one of the highest points in Tomoeda. We don't have many skyscrapers around, especially ones with clocks on, but that might count."

"Yugi!"

"Go ahead." Yami growled at them as he spotted either Ryou or Ba-Khu-Ra heading their way and suspecting it was the latter, "I'll meet you there."

"You sure?" Joey asked, concerned.

"I'm sure, just go."

Joey nodded and ushered the others away, leaving Yami behind to deal with the Thief King.

"Is he going to be alright?" Sakura worried as she looked back over her shoulder to see Yami and Bakura talking.

"He'll be fine." Joey waved it off, more concerned about getting the TIME card sealed so Yugi didn't have the same nightmare again tonight, or was it last night...? "What kinds of magic are there?" He asked Sakura and Li curiously as they made their way to the clock tower, wondering if he could work out what magic he had an whether it would be useful to his friends.

"There's lots of different kinds." Li replied, feeling much more confident away from the Item holders. He was, after all, the most experienced magic user in the group and the only one who had any idea of how to deal with TIME. "There are tests to determine what kind someone has, but I only know how to do the ones that test for an elemental alignment, my family..." Li trailed off, his thoughts and feelings plain on his face.

"Li..."

"I'm fine!" Li interrupted Sakura's concerned murmur and stomped off ahead, leaving the pair behind.

Joey watched him go, unsure how he felt about the kid. One on hand he'd sold Yugi out to someone who had attacked his family and put them in comas, on the other Joey could kind of see why someone in Li's situation would risk it. He had no love for his father, and he was incredibly ticked off at his mother for leaving him behind, but he'd do anything, anything for his little sister, Serenity.

He just hoped that he wouldn't ever have to make the choice.

They finally caught up with Li at the base of the clock tower, only to find that they couldn't get into the building. The clock tower had been closed off for renovations and there were builders going in and out constantly.

By the time Yami had caught up with them they'd been there fifteen minutes and it was becoming obvious that they weren't getting in until the builders went home for the day. At least through the front door.

"If you use FLY, I should be able to hide you." Yami told Sakura, looking up at the tower's highest spire, considering how much magic it would take to get her up there, "TIME shouldn't see you and neither should anyone else."

Sakura nodded and the group darted around a corner out of sight of everyone. Sakura summoned FLY, her staff gaining wings as Joey covered the corner, making sure no one came this way, a problem that was solved when the Puzzle glowed and she disappeared from view.

"Whoa!" Joey yelped, shocked, as he stared at the spot Sakura had been just moments before.

"What?" Sakura's voice floated out of thin air.

"Sakura?" Joey looked around, "Where are you?"

"Here." Joey jumped a mile as Sakura swept past him, "I'll be back..."

Sakura kind of enjoyed making Joey jump a mile and leaving Li in the dust, fully aware that there was no way Yami would trust Li enough to do this for him.

She hadn't failed to notice that Yugi had been quieter today then he had yesterday, right up unto the point Yami had taken over, and the Pharaoh had been off all day too, easier to irritate, shorter with his friends...

She assumed that it was because of Li's revelation last night. If she'd been in their shoes, she'd be frightened too... in fact, she was. The fact that at any moment Yugi and anyone who was hanging around his house could be attacked was a scary thought, though, she supposed, not today.

And not tomorrow if she didn't capture The TIME.

As she swept above the rooftops, invisible to everyone below her, she turned her attention to the huge clock. The wings on her staff beat hard as she continued to gain altitude. She reached the top and prepared to fly in when an old man appeared in the window she intended to use with an hourglass in his hands.

Sakura let out a sharp gasp as he turned to look at her, a small amused smile on his face.

Then he flipped the hourglass over and everything seemed to go in reverse.

Sakura passed out as the events of the day flowed backwards at high speed, images, sounds, tastes and feelings coming with them.

**LINE_RECOGNITION_HAS_GONE_AGAIN**

"Why didn't that work?" Sakura asked as the group gathered at the base of the clock tower for round two, "I thought TIME couldn't see me."

"See you no, sense you however..." Li sighed.

"And you didn't think to tell us that yesterday?" Joey growled, glaring at Li.

"I thought his magic," He gestured to Yami, "Would mask Kinomoto-San's magic. Apparently not."

"Why didn't it?" Joey asked Yami, confused since normally, unless Yugi was very careful, his Shadows normally swamped Sakura's magic.

"It's a balancing act." Yami sighed, "Covering Sakura's trail enough that she can't be seen, even to the magical eye and making it too difficult to use her magic. I can try it again."

"Unless we can protect someone from TIME's effects it doesn't really matter." Li growled.

"Protect?" Sakura asked, an idea hitting her, "Would SHIELD work?"

"You wouldn't be able to use it in midair." Kero piped up, "You'd need to use your staff to use SHIELD."

"Up the stairs then?" Sakura asked.

"Have to be." Li nodded, "I'm coming with you." He paused and looked at Yami, "Even if you won't shield me."

"I don't shield you, you're going to give the game away." Yami scowled, pausing when Yugi nudged at him. _'Aibou?'_

"_We should help Li too..."_

'_I don't trust him.'_

"_I know."_ Yugi acknowledged, _"But if we don't he'll go anyway and then we'll have to go through today all over again."_

Yami let out a soft growl as he turned his attention back to Li, "If I shield you, you'd better not try anything."

"Look Mutou, I want to be stuck in this time loop about as much as you do." Li told the Pharaoh, "So we need to work together."

"Fine." Yami nodded and once again focused his magic. "Now go." He told the two who were completely invisible.

Li and Sakura darted into the building, dodging around the builders and racing up the stairs, their feet pounding up the stairs as they tried to reach the top quickly...

**LINE_RECOGNITION_HAS_GONE_AGAIN**

"_It's only a dream. It's only a dream..."_ Yugi repeated in his mind as the dream went around for the fourth time.

Yami went flying through the doorway, crashing into the wall which simply moulded to fit his shape and then bounced back like it was made of jelly, causing the Pharaoh to stagger as it pushed him back on his feet.

Even before he'd gotten himself steady, he'd raised a hand and blasted their attacker off of his feet, sending him tumbling over the sofa.

"What did you do to Okaasan?" Yami growled as he darted around the sofa, only to find the man was missing, then shock coursed through him as someone grabbed his shoulder and pulled, leaving his spirit form behind, shocked by his sudden loss of control and with a feeling like the rug had been pulled out from under his feet.

"Yammmph!"

The Pharaoh wheeled around at Yugi's cry to find his aibou in the clutches of their attacker, who had one hand clamped over Yugi's mouth and a knife held to the boy's throat.

"_Yami...?"_ Yami snarled at the tremor in Yugi's mental 'voice' and the fear that coursed over the link.

"Let him go." Joey demanded, unmoving, afraid of what the guy might do if he tried anything.

"_**Yami!" **_

"There's more than one way to claim a Millennium Item," The man sniggered as terrified tears rolled down Yugi's cheeks, "And if the Pharaoh doesn't want to play my game..."

"_Yami," _Yugi whimpered as the knife dug in slightly, drawing blood where it pierced the skin, _"Please, please help me..."_

Yami took a step forward, sensing Yugi's pain and unable to just stand there and watch the death of the light that had saved him from five thousand years in the dark...

"_**YAMI, WAKE UP!"**_At Yugi's roar and helped along by the mental equivalent to a bucket of cold water, Yami started awake, only to find himself in Yugi's Soul Room.

"Aibou?" Yami asked, confused, as he looked around, relief coursing through him when his eyes fell on his unharmed aibou, "Are you alright?"

"You were having a nightmare. You fell into it when you tried to wake me up." Yugi hesitated momentarily then, "There was something in here..." Yugi glanced around the room, "You woke up once I scared it away..."

Yami scowled as he looked around the room, trying to spot 'it', whatever 'it' was. "What was...?"

"Some kind of butterfly with purple and black wings. It was glowing too. An odd blue colour."

Yami scowled as he looked around Yugi's room again, checking to see if he could spot the butterfly only to find he had no clue where it had gone.

"Yami?" Yugi asked, looking around curiously, "Where are we?"

Yami paused as it hit him that Yugi had never been here before. When Shadi had invaded their Soul Rooms, he had pulled Yugi straight into the maze that made up his room without giving him a chance to even look through his door. In fact other than the brief meeting when he'd gotten his aibou to hide, this was the first time that they'd met properly, soul to soul. That it had come about because of someone else's spell was unfortunate, but it was something Yami had desired for a long time.

"This is your Soul Room." Yami explained, "It's a representation of your very essence."

Yugi nodded, looking around and blushing, embarrassed at all the toys, games and cuddly toys that were lying around, but didn't get a chance to say anything as Joey's voice echoed down the corridor, causing Yugi to jump.

"**Yuge?"**

Yugi chuckled slightly as he trembled, "Joey's shaking me."

"You should see what he wants." Yami nodded, understanding, "Do you mind if I stay here? I might be able to find that 'butterfly'."

"You don't think it's a real butterfly."

"Aibou," Yami said patiently, "This is your Soul Room, it CAN'T be a real butterfly. If you didn't call it here, it can't stay here. It could be dangerous."

"It's a butterfly." Yugi gave his guardian an odd look.

"Just... please?" Yami asked. When Yugi nodded he relaxed slightly, "You should go and see what Joey wants."

Yugi nodded and darted out into the hall, following its path until he stepped into the light that led to his own body and opened his real eyes.

"Yuge, hey." Joey looked concerned, "You alright? You were tossing and turning in your sleep again..."

"I'm okay." Yugi nodded, sitting up just in time to see the butterfly from his Soul Room flutter out of the shut window, through the glass. He scrambled out of bed and darted across to the window but it had gotten out of sight before he had a chance to look out of it.

"_Yami. I just saw that butterfly again. I don't think..."_

'_Get dressed quickly.'_ Yami's tone told Yugi a lot, _'We need to speak to Sakura.'_

**LINE_RECOGNITION_HAS_GONE_AGAIN**

"I don't know, but it wasn't a Clow Card." Kero sighed. "If it was a blue winged butterfly, I'd say it was The DREAM. She can cause dreams but not only was it a purple butterfly but it was causing nightmares. DREAM doesn't do that. Forevisions maybe, if you have magic, but not nightmares."

Yami scowled but nodded, having hoped that was the answer. He didn't like this creature's ability to get into his aibou's Soul Room like that and he'd hoped that the butterfly had been a Clow Card so it could be caught and stop tormenting his aibou.

His next port of call was obvious. "In that case I'm going to speak to Ba-Khu-Ra." Yami growled.

"Not now, Yami." Kero shook his head, "It won't matter if you stop Bakura before we manage to catch time, because it won't stop last night's nightmare, the spell would already be in motion. We should stop TIME first, then we can go visit Ba-Khu-Ra."

"_Kero's right Yami."_ Yugi spoke up, _"I can take another night of nightmares as long as we get out of this timeloop. I don't want to go through another Sunday."_ Yugi let out a soft laugh, _"Not till next week at least."_

Yami let out a soft snort. He would rather stop the nightmares, he could do without another nightmare like the one he'd had last night and he was sick of getting blasted into a wall in Yugi's nightmare, though the spongy wall had been a good plan by his aibou. However he could see Yugi's point. It wasn't like he particularly fancied going through the same Sunday for a fifth time.

On the upside they'd technically had a week off of school.

"Fine." Yami sighed, "We can catch TIME first. One question." He turned to Sakura, "Did you pick WOOD up out of your father's study?"

Sakura blanched.

"No and Toya's supposed to be washing the floor today."

The entire group broke and ran for the Kinomoto household, inside of which a tree was growing.

"So... anyone fancy a reset?" Joey asked jokingly, earning himself a despairing look from his friends, "What? I was joking."

An hour later a rather less amused Joey was left helping Toya clean up the mess while Sakura, Li and Yami headed for the clock tower, the WOOD card safely tucked away in Sakura's deck of Clow Cards with her name on it.

"Plan?" Sakura asked as she looked up at the clock tower.

"Diversions." Yami explained, "Li and I can cause some and while he's focusing on us, you can get behind him, using SHIELD to protect yourself from TIME's effects and catch him."

"But what happens to you guys?"

"You succeed, I get to go squash Ba-Khu-Ra. You fail, I get to try to squish that butterfly, either way..." Yami shrugged.

"If you're sure..." Sakura looked hesitant, concern for the others obvious.

"Go." Yami cast his spell and Sakura vanished. A moment later they heard the rush of wings as she swept past on FLY.

"Our turn." Li nodded to Yami, still wary of him but more willing to accept Yugi after the boy had saved his life.

Yami nodded and the pair of them darted into the stairwell, Yami's spell covering their footsteps and their passing until they got past the builders and the Pharaoh let the spell fall. There wasn't much point, after all, being the distraction unless you were distracting and Yami's first stunt, the moment he sensed Sakura touch the floor at the top of the tower was raise barriers around the windows, preventing TIME's escape.

Li's first move was quite impressive too. TIME, who was distracted by Yami's wards, ran smack into Li's summoned lightning, which stunned TIME for a few moments.

Weakened but not done it turned the hourglass in its hands and time started its journey backwards, causing Yami to let out a frustrated growl only to spot Sakura in the midst of a bubble that didn't seem to be affected by TIME's power.

"Return to the guise you were meant to be!" Sakura bellowed over the noise, "Clow Card!"

Even as TIME dissolved into mist the roaring passage of time stopped, leaving the boys where they had been before TIME had attempted to send them backwards, the card appearing to have trouble making up its mind who to go to and finally settling on Yami, who chuckled slightly and handed it over to Sakura.

"I would suggest that you keep that one well away from me." Yami glowered at the card in Sakura's hand, wondering if it had thought that it could make up with him by going to him rather than one of the others.

"Of course, Yami." Sakura nodded, having been half-afraid considering Yami's mood today that he was going to wreak the card rather than let them capture it.

"Now if you'll excuse me," The Pharaoh growled as he headed for the exit, "I have a Tomb Robber to talk to."

Sakura and Li watched him go, the latter letting out a relieved sigh as he vanished downstairs.

"Is he always like that?" Li practically demanded, annoyed that TIME had gone to Yami rather than him.

"No." Sakura shook her head, "I've never seen him like this before. I think the nightmares are hitting him hard..."

"Maybe we should follow him." Kero suggested.

"I'm not sure that's a good idea." Li shook his head, having no great urge to get in the middle of a Shadow Mage verses Shadow Mage argument.

"I'm going." Sakura told him, heading for the exit before anyone else could say anything and Kero darted after her.

"Sakura, wait up!"

**LINE_RECOGNITION_HAS_GONE_AGAIN**

**Author's Note: - Bad day...days... week? Gah. Time Travel is complicated. Anyway lot's going on in what is technically just one day...**

**Sorry for the very very very long delay. This chapter has required a few rewrites. Plus I've moved house, plus I've graduated from University. Lots of things and little time. **

**Editor's Note: Poor Tea, still hiding on the edges with no powers of her own... was she aware of the time loops? Did she miss the team in the park four days in a row? Perhaps we'll never know...**

**Contract?**

**Author Note: Sod off Kyubey! No contracts!**


	17. Disaster

'_He has to be somewhere.'_ Yami grouched at his Aibou as the boy headed downstairs, _'Bakura can't just have vanished off of the face of the Earth.'_

Yugi didn't say a word. He was much more worried about his friend than Yami was about Yugi's lack of sleep. He hadn't seen Ryou for days. When the time loop caused by The TIME card had ended, Yami, in his body, had gone after the Tomb Robber but Ryou hadn't been at home, nor had he seen him in school. Yugi was worried that something had happened to the boy, but when he'd phoned the hospital to ask he'd been told that there was no one by that name in the hospital.

The exhausted Shadow Mage slumped down onto a stool and tried to register why Joey was singing.

"Oh the weather outside is frightful..." Joey warbled happily as he stared out the window.

"Wheeler-Kun," Kaida interrupted as she bustled around the warm kitchen trying to get the boys' breakfasts and everyone's lunches up together at the same time, "It's June, not December."

"It's snowing though."

"What?" Yugi, who had barely slept for the eighth or ninth night in a row (he was losing count), despite Yami's best attempts to ward the bedroom against the entrance of the damn butterfly that seemed to bring the nightmares with it, yelped. The tired Shadow Mage darted over to the window and looked outside to find the world coated in around two feet of snow. "But it was baking yesterday!"

"Apparently today it's snowing." Joey shrugged, wondering if that meant they were going to have a day off from school.

"We don't live in England Joey." Yugi chuckled, kind of hoping school _had_ been cancelled, "The weather doesn't normally flip this drastically."

"Clow Card?" Yugi's mother was the first to suggest the possibility out loud, though the thought had crossed Yugi's mind as he leaned across the kitchen side and turned the radio on, the low noise filling the kitchen.

Yugi was just dialling Sakura's number to find out when the radio started listing off the schools that were closed due to the snow. He darted into the hallway, narrowly avoiding getting his eardrums blown up by Joey's loud and rather obnoxious cheering when it was announced that they _did_ in fact have a Snow Day along with pretty much every school in Tomoeda.

"Hi Yugi." Sakura sounded insanely awake and happier than even Yugi was sure he could deal with, though the lack of a decent night's sleep in over a week probably had something to do with that, "We've got the day off. Did you know?"

"Yeah." Yugi nodded though Sakura couldn't see him, "It's kind of hard to miss the snow. Is it a Clow Card?"

"Blatantly." Sakura didn't sound too worried though, "Kero says it's not too urgent to catch it though. It's an offensive card but it's more like self defence than FIREY's outbursts. And I'm not complaining about snow."

Yugi chuckled, relaxing slightly as his doorbell rang, "So what've you got planned for your day off?"

"Snowmen?" Sakura didn't sound too sure. "I mean it won't be as much fun alone but..."

Yugi took that for the very unsubtle hint it was. "We'll be over after Mum goes to work. We just have to wrap up warm first."

"Thanks Yugi." Sakura sounded delighted as Yugi opened the front door to the postman, who was wrapped up in several layers of clothing and looked rather ill amused, "See you later."

'_Are you sure you're alright to go out, Aibou? I mean...'_ Yami trailed off as Yugi signed for the package and sent reassurance over the link.

"_I'm okay. I'm just tired."_ Yugi responded, trying to reassure the spirit of the Puzzle who was feeling useless, since he couldn't even protect his partner from something as simple as a butterfly. _"Besides, playing in the snow isn't exactly hard work. You'll enjoy it, just you wait and see."_

He picked up reluctance from the Ancient Egyptian spirit, who had never seen snow before and wasn't sure what could possibly be fun about the strange white substance that was all over the ground.

Kaida had left for work long before Joey and Yugi were wrapped up sufficiently warmly, as Joey didn't have many clothes with him and though Yugi's mother had bought him some, she'd not thought about the possibility of him being there when the winter snows arrived so she'd not thought to buy him anything other than a warm coat.

Luckily Yugi had a spare hat, one that refused to fit on his head because of his hair, and there was a pair of spare gloves in a drawer that were one size fits all, even if they belonged to Yugi's mother and were lilac, and as for a scarf, well Yugi had plenty of those, it was the rest he kept losing.

It took them much longer to get to Sakura's than usual, wading through the snow to the main road, then walking down the salted road until they hit the turning onto Sakura's street, where Yugi attempted to switch with Yami to allow the Pharaoh a chance to get used to the snow.

Yami lasted all of two steps into the snow bank before he said something unsavoury and shoved Yugi back into control. Yugi staggered, unused to being shoved quite that hard by his Other Self, and faceplanted into the snow.

"I take it he doesn't like snow then." Joey chuckled as Yugi picked up both himself and the package.

Yugi prodded Yami who just sent back the mental equivalent of a head shake.

'_No thank you, Aibou. I am more than happy to remain in my Soul Room today and let you have all the fun.'_

Yugi couldn't help but wonder if it was less to do with letting him have fun and more to do with the fact it was warm in the Soul Rooms but he just sent back a shrug, _"You'll miss it all."_

When Yami didn't respond other than a shrug, Yugi turned his attention to the package. It was quite a solid white box that had a letter attached to it. While he'd been waiting for Joey to finish getting changed he had taken a quick peek at it and had been stunned to find that it was from Industrial Illusions, the company that made the Duel Monsters trading card game.

He hadn't opened the box though, he was planning on doing so when he met up with his friends. He had no idea why he had a package from Industrial Illusions. The only thing he could think of was that it was because of the tournament that he'd gone back to play the final match of a couple of days ago, but that didn't make sense. Not when the finals had only been a couple of days ago and the package would have had to have come from America.

It looked undamaged though so the pair continued on, reaching the front yard of the Kinomoto residence just in time to narrowly avoid a snowball that had been thrown by Toya. Joey suspected that Toya had been aiming for them since the ball of snow had flown over Sakura's head by around a foot and he'd only just managed to dodge in time.

"Yugi! Joey!" Sakura grinned at her friends, "Toya's got the day off."

"I can tell." Joey responded, already making his own snowball and tossing it over the fence, only to miss Toya by a mile.

This, of course, started a snowball war that had Sakura dragging Yugi inside to put his package down, before the pair headed back outside to team up in an attempt to break up the battle that was beginning to look more like a massacre. Toya, who had competed against his classmates in snowball battles before now, was out classing Joey at every turn and the poor blonde was beginning to look like a snowman.

"Do we have to catch The SNOW?" Sakura asked when they finally crashed out on the chairs in the living room, wrapped in fluffy blankets as they tried to dry off and get warm. "It's so much fun."

"You're going to need to, unless you want Tomoeda coated in snow forever." Kero pointed out as he settled on the table and stole a marshmallow out of Yugi's hot chocolate, "And I don't know about you but I don't want to get snowed in."

Sakura sighed heavily. She knew Kero was right, they had to capture all the Clow Cards, even the ones that got them days off of school, but she had been hoping to have a little more time playing with her friends without worrying about magic and Clow Cards and monsters.

"Hey Yuge." Joey piped up, poking Yugi as he did so. The kid in question started awake and blinked at his friend, confused. "So what's in that package?"

"It's from Industrial Illusions?" Tomoyo looked shocked, "Already?"

"Maybe their Asia branch?" Tea suggested, curious herself. "Was there a secret prize offered?" She asked Yugi who shrugged.

"I didn't think there was a secret prize." Yugi said, trying to think, "It was only supposed to be a little thing. The regional's aren't for another fortnight. I've already got my name down."

"So open it." Joey urged as Tomoyo set up her camera to record, unable to resist getting more footage for what she was calling a school project but was turning more into a film that would have been classed in the fantasy genre if they weren't living it.

Just as Yugi reached for the packing tape the doorbell rang causing Joey to groan as Sakura darted for the front door.

"Mutou-San?" Sakura's voice floated through the open front door, "What're you doing here?"

"Couldn't get to work, all the roads are closed." Yugi's mother replied, startling all the children and causing Toya to wonder about his own ability to get to work while the snow was bad, "Are Yugi and Wheeler-kun here?"

"In the living room, we were about to see what was in the package Yugi got this morning. Would you like a cup of tea?" Sakura's reply caused Tea to budge over, shoving Joey further up the sofa and making room for the adult.

"Yes, thank you Sakura. I could use one, it's rather cold out." Kaiya replied as she stepped into the living room, nodding to them all as she crossed and took the seat offered to her.

Joey spent most of the time it took Sakura to make Kaiya a small pot of tea grumbling about how long it was taking Sakura to make a cup of tea, distracting them from the fact Kero was giving the box a funny look, and once they'd all settled again, Yugi finally got to open his package.

Inside it was a VCR tape, an envelope and a completely opaque card protector that was firmly sealed and didn't reveal anything of the cards inside.

"That's it?" Joey looked disappointed as he tried to yoink the card protector out of Yugi's hand only for Tea to slap his hand away.

"Yugi's gift, not yours." She scolded the blonde as Yugi opened the envelope and became highly confused by the fact that it appeared to have a set of three plane tickets to America in. "There might be instructions on the video."

It wasn't until the video was practically in the machine that Kero realised why he'd wanted nothing more than to glower at the box for the last five minutes and by then it was too late. The tape, which had been the source of the weird feeling Kero had been getting, was already being absorbed by the machine that would set it playing and the tv had been turned on.

"Hello, at last we meet, Yugi-boy." The man on screen spoke the moment the video started playing, "Nice to meet you at last."

"Who?"

"I know him." Tomoyo paled slightly, "He's Pegasus Maximilian. He does business with my mum. Relies on her company for his computer hardware."

"No, no, don't be surprised." The video continued. Obviously the man had hoped for another reaction to the one he had gotten, "I just wanted to send a video letter to the esteemed Yugi-boy."

That caused Yugi to frown. He hadn't done anything impressive yet. He could have understood attracting the man's attention if he'd managed to get to Nationals, or the World Championships, but not for some local tournament, no matter how easily he'd won it.

"I hear you're very skilled at Duel Monsters." Pegasus continued, his words causing Yugi's hand to stray to the pouch he'd been wearing on his belt for the last few months which contained his deck, "I want to test that skill right here and now."

"How?" Kaiya sounded dismissive, "You can't duel against a video tape."

"The box you were sent has a false floor," Pegasus explained, "Take five minutes to build your deck from those cards and when you're done the game will begin."

"Free cards?" Joey asked, immediately poked at the box's bottom until he managed to get the false bottom up. There was a lot of cards hidden below the false bottom and Yugi quickly scoured through as Joey pulled them out, building a new deck from scratch.

"Wait, you're going to try it?" Tea asked, confused.

"Why not?" Joey asked, "It's not like it shouldn't be..."

"Finished." Yugi accidently interrupted Joey's comment.

"Then let's begin. The duel will last fifteen minutes, but not a second longer, Yugi-boy." Pegasus responded, confusing Yugi slightly, as a timer appeared in the top left corner, "Duel."

"Duel." Yugi responded, trying to ignore the headache that was beginning to form as he shuffled and drew. "I'll start by summoning the Koumori Dragon, in attack mode." He felt a bit daft announcing his move to a video tape as the timer started counting down.

"Let me guess, the Koumori Dragon right?" Yugi's embarrassment turned to shock as Pegasus responded to the move.

"_How? How did he guess the name of my card?"_ Yugi yelped. Yami's attention turned completely towards the television, having been paying more attention because of Yugi's headache anyway and suddenly very wary of the man on screen.

"You see Yugi-boy, I _knew_ you were going to play that card. In fact I know every card in your hand. You're planning on polymerising your Koumori Dragon and your dragon knight next turn."

"How?" Yugi squeaked aloud this time, shocked.

"What is he? Some kind of mind reader?" Joey complained.

"Heh heh." Pegasus chuckled, thoroughly creeping out the watchers of the game along with his young opponent, "We can't have that... so I'll remove your Koumori Dragon with my Dragon Capture Jar."

Yugi and the others watched in horror as the dragon appeared only to be sucked into the television.

Then it finally struck him, the tendrils of Shadows that had been making their way around the room, the way Pegasus seemed to be able to know what he was planning.

This wasn't a plain duel.

"This is a Shadow Game." Yugi started the sentence but Yami finished it, taking control of the body, allowing Yugi to retreat from the darkness, protecting the soul of his young partner.

"That's right Yugi-boy. And there's a Penalty Game waiting for the loser." Pegasus nodded, highly amused at Yami's responding growl, "Now, I've stolen your dragon Yugi-boy, sealing it in my Capture Jar." Pegasus boasted, then paused, noting the look on Yami's face, "Come on, why so angry? This is a game, you should enjoy it."

Yami didn't lighten up in the slightest as his friends commented about sheer dumb luck. He knew better. The Shadow Games could warp reality. Somehow the man was reading Yugi's mind. But the question was how the pre-recorded message was doing it.

A thought occurred to the former Pharaoh that he didn't really like. The man's name was Pegasus and he could use Shadow magic, the man who had attacked Li's family was also called Pegasus and had been able to wield the Shadows using the power of his Millennium Eye.

Yami grimaced as he realised that they'd walked straight into his trap.

"I thought you'd enjoy the chance to see a new card that I've only just created." Pegasus continued, "Now, Yugi-boy, since that Baby Dragon you're considering using would be as helpless as your Koumori Dragon, why don't you try something else."

Yami snarled quietly, only to have Yugi reach out, offering advice and reassurance. _"We can do this."_ Yugi offered, _"Together."_

Pegasus snickered and Yami glowered at the screen, wondering if the CEO had heard Yugi's words. "Fine, if a dragon won't help then I'll play this. Silver Fang!" The powerful silver wolf appeared with a howl.

On his next turn a completely unfazed Pegasus set a card face down and used his Dragon Piper to summon Yugi's Koumori Dragon out of the pot and set it on Yami's Silver Fang, burning the poor beast to death.

Yami scowled as the timer continued to tick down, passing the nine minute mark. He needed something more powerful than Koumori Dragon but there wasn't much in his deck that had higher than fifteen hundred attack points.

Then he drew, a small smirk growing on his face as he realised what he'd pulled. "Summoned Skull, come forth!"

Pegasus looked highly amused as the Summoned Skull moved to destroy his dragon only for Pegasus to activate a trap card that destroyed his demon. "You should just give up, Yugi-boy. You can't win."

"This duel is still on, Pegasus." Yami growled at the man, trying to ignore the counter in the corner. "I'll never surrender, not to you."

"Are you sure, Yugi-boy? I know every move you're going to make before you make it." Pegasus pointed out. With the scores stood at 1700 to 2000 the CEO had a small lead but with the time counting down it was more than enough to win Pegasus the game unless things changed, "What would you say if I told you I wasn't the one who created Duel Monsters?" Pegasus's question threw Yami's train of thoughts and the ancient Pharaoh turned away from his cards and glowered at the TV monitor.

"Isn't stealing someone else's work called plagiarism?" The Pharaoh asked, his tone snappish. He was in no mood for babble.

"Indeed." Pegasus looked amused, "But then I don't think there's anyone alive who remembers the original games. You see Yugi-boy, five thousand years ago the Shadow Games were played by Kings and Sorcerers across the globe. These Shadow Games eventually devolved into a war that could have destroyed the world." Pegasus considered his cards carefully as he spoke, setting another card face down. "Until an ancient, powerful Pharaoh gave his life to lock the dark magic away. He was believed to hold your Millennium Puzzle, Yugi-boy."

Yugi could feel Yami snap to attention as the spirit realised the CEO of Industrial Illusions was talking about him.

"And you want to set them loose?" Yami asked with a snarl, knowing instinctively that it would be really bad for the Shadows to break free.

"No, no, nothing that gauche, Yugi-boy." Pegasus sniggered, "I just need to borrow the power for a little while."

"What do you...?"

"Yuge." Joey interrupted with a hiss, catching Yami's attention, "Time."

Yami quickly took in the clock. Pegasus had bought himself crucial time with his little speech. With less than a minute to go on the duel, he was down on lifepoints and out of ideas on how to beat Pegasus's mind reading. Every strategy he and Yugi came up with, Pegasus knew. They couldn't keep him out of their head and Yami had tried repeatedly.

Then it hit him. Pegasus couldn't know their hand if _they_ didn't know their hand. He set the hand of cards down on the floor and drew from the top of their deck.

"I play Monster Reborn!" Yami crowed, "And I use it to call my Summoned Skull back from the Graveyard!"

The demon reappeared painfully slowly, his hands crackling with electricity.

"Summoned Skull! Lightening Strike!"

Lightening streaked across the playing field, arching towards the dragon that Pegasus had stolen.

"_Please, please, please!"_ Yugi begged as the attack entered the television.

The timer hit zero.

The attack vanished just millimetres from Koumori Dragon.

"No!" Yami bellowed. To come so close only to lose it all at the last second...

"Oh nice try, Yugi-boy." Pegasus chuckled, "If that attack had made contact I would have lost."

Pegasus was gloating now and Yami's hands clenched into fists. It was over. He had lost. And now there was a Penalty Game awaiting them. He wrapped his magic tightly around them, desperate to defend his aibou from his failure.

"But it didn't, did it Yugi-boy?" Pegasus continued, easily able to sense the magic Yami was trying to defend himself with and internally chuckling as his gaze turned to those the boy didn't even think to defend. "And now for the Penalty."

Bright light erupted from the television, flash blinding the Pharaoh. Behind him, Yugi's friends called for him, scared, but it was the sound of something hitting something soft that caused the Pharaoh to wheel around, still blinking sunspots from his vision as something bright darted past him and entered the television.

Kaiya had collapsed.

"Yugi!" Before Yami could react, he heard her voice coming from the television. He wheeled around to stare at the screen, only to find her image on screen, pounding on the glass, terror obvious.

"Okaasan!" Yami was dumped into the passenger seat as Yugi ricocheted into control, practically screaming in his own fear and guilt as he too pounded on the glass, "Okaasan!"

"Now, now, Yugi-boy." Yugi recoiled from the television as Pegasus appeared on screen, "You'll get her back, as long as you accept my invitation."

"Take me." Yugi pleaded, "Leave Okaasan alone."

"I'm sorry Yugi-boy, but that's just not possible." Pegasus didn't look sorry at all, "However, should you come and enter my World Championships and make it to the prize match, I will fight you again. Who knows, you just might be able to earn back your mother's soul."

Yugi just stared at him torn between shock, fear and several other emotions all clawing at him at once. World Championships? He hadn't even fought in the Regionals yet.

"I've included your tickets and the cards that I've giving away both as invitations and prizes for entering, Yugi-boy. I've even sent enough tickets for your friends. So unless you really don't want your mother back, there's no reason not to show."

Pegasus was smirking and Yami was fuming, but Yugi was too numb to take it in.

They had lost and his mother had paid the price.

"Yugi-boy," Yugi stared blankly at the screen, "I look forward to seeing you there."

With that the tape ran out.

**LINE_RECOGNITION_HAS_GONE_AGAIN**

**Author Note: *glares at Pegasus* **

**Sorry for the very long time to update, this fic is a lot of work. Merging the two universes isn't as smooth as I thought it would be. I was actually contemplating taking Sunlight down because I have such trouble writing it. I think from now on any updates are going to be sporadic at best. Sorry about that.**

**Editor's Note: Why Sakura doesn't consider just using the Snowy herself for a few days after catching it (to pretend that the snowfall was natural, obviously!) I'm not quite sure... Also. Subtlety. She lacks it.**


End file.
